Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West [B1577]

2002 PB in nice condition except for some foxing on the text edges. From the New York Times bestselling author of Band of Brothers and D-Day, the definitive book on Lewis and Clark's exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, the most momentous expedition in American history and one of the great adventure stories of all time. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River to the Rockies, over the mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, and back. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, made the first map of the trans-Mississippi West, provided invaluable scientific data on the flora and fauna of the Louisiana Purchase territory, and established the American claim to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Ambrose has pieced together previously unknown information about weather, terrain, and medical knowledge at the time to provide a vivid backdrop for the expedition. Lewis is supported by a rich variety of colorful characters, first of all Jefferson himself, whose interest in exploring and acquiring the American West went back thirty years. Next comes Clark, a rugged frontiersman whose love for Lewis matched Jefferson's. There are numerous Indian chiefs, and Sacagawea, the Indian girl who accompanied the expedition, along with the French-Indian hunter Drouillard, the great naturalists of Philadelphia, the French and Spanish fur traders of St. Louis, John Quincy Adams, and many more leading political, scientific, and military figures of the turn of the century. High adventure, high politics, suspense, drama, and diplomacy combine with high romance and personal tragedy to make this outstanding work of scholarship as readable as a novel.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "What an amazing story of fortitude, courage, smarts, American and Indian history, ecology, geography, mental illness, and ultimately death rolled into one. Long but fantastic read."; "Undaunted Courage surprised me in the best way. I went into it thinking I'd simply learn more about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Instead I ended up deeply attached. I was emotionally invested in Meriwether Lewis as a person, a leader, and a mind. What stood out most was the humanity inside the history. I had no idea the extent of Sacagawea's role beyond the textbook gloss, and the journals make it so clear that she wasn't a footnote. She was a force. The respect she commanded, not symbolically but in the actual day to day survival of the group, was powerful to read. The collaboration between the Corps and the Native nations felt layered and nuanced, not the flattened version we learn growing up. It reminded me that history is ultimately people trying to trust one another across difference. Overall, this was a history book that felt personal. It gave me adventure, emotion, respect, heartbreak, and a new framework for how I view the West and who shaped the story of America."; "An incredible adventure. No idea why this hasn't been made into a miniseries yet."