On May 14, 1804, a party of explorers dispatched by President Thomas Jefferson set off up the Missouri River into America's newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Under the leadership of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the men of the Corps of Discovery would cross the continent and into history.
I like these short history books. They are a bit like longer articles that you get in the history magazines. I knew little of the expedition undertaken by Captain William Clark and Captain Meriwether Lewis in 1804 other than it was to discover the west of America. It was more than that though and quite a feat it was too.
In 1801 Thomas Jefferson was elected president. He wanted to create a trade route to the Pacific north-west. Most of the area belonged to the French until he was able to buy a huge chunk from them. I mean huge. Starting on the Missouri River not far from St Louis the expedition party were going into the unknown. Just what had the US bought and who were they going to meet? They will go into Iowa and South Dakota.
They meet Indian tribes and make-up scientific boxes containing all sorts of flora and fauna to return. At one point they even sent back a live Prairie dog and four Magpies. They finally get to the Pacific Ocean on 14-Nov-1805 but other sources I read have it as the 15th. Once there, guess what? They have to return. They stay until March 1806 and return on the same route.
This is a no frills historical re-telling of the expedition. If, like me, you are not American and have not been taught this in school then it is not a bad place to start.
Very interesting. I learned more of the true adventure and hardships than what I leaned in school many years ago. I would have enjoyed it more if sections contained a map of that part of their journey.
Good as it can be I guess. Not very riveting although I think there were plenty of parts of the journey that could have been made more interesting by better writing.
I enjoy history books, but struggle with finding works that are more substantial than a website article but smaller than a 400+ tome. This book strikes a great balance. While the prose will not win any awards, it is serviceable and covers all the major events of the expedition through the deaths of Lewis and Clarke. Very glad to have read it.
If you are looking for a quick and concise read of the Lewis and Clark journey west and back, this book will do. Flying at about 30,000ft it covers the basics. If you’re looking for something more in depth this would not be the book for you.
Well written and brief, the author gives a birds eye view of the expedition of the Corps of Discovery. Informative but brief, this book will give a general idea of the major events that took place. Good read for someone just starting to tackle this subject of America’s history.
An easy, quick read written more at the young adult reading level. Just the basic highlights of the Corps of Discovery expedition and a brief synopsis of the final years of Lewis and Clark. No footnotes were included.
This book describes the Lewis and Clark expedition. Although seemingly true to the facts, it did not convey the sense of adventure undertaken by this heroic group.
Very quick summary of the almost 3 year long trip. There are a lot of things learned that many won’t know and/or folklore has embellished and there are many heroics and stories that were worth reading. I would love to read a longer version.
Although I have not read other accounts of Lewis and Clark’s exploration, I felt that the author summarized the events of their journey with the sources available in a very readable fashion.
Just enough popular-theory debunking for me. I liked the writing a lot too. I wish there was more preamble to the expedition and more about Lewis and Clark as people.
I loved reading about the explorations of these two amazing men and their influence on our country. Brave and enduring are two words that come to mind after reading this.
Lewis and Clark leads you into a land that no one had ever seen. Their story is a true adventure. They tell of many meetings with the Indian tribes. And of the often hard land and water ways. It is a good read and a great time of early history.
An interesting story that could have been improved with more detail of the adventures and challenges they faced as well as many more maps indicating where they went.