Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West

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Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: The first fifty pages or so starts with the obligatory background info which makes for fairly slow reading. However, once the expedition starts I could not put the book down. Ambrose does a masterful job of highlighting his own work with quotes from the actual journals of Lewis and Clark. His personal familiarity with the terrain and his obvious fascination with the subject matter makes me want to retrace the footsteps of the Corp of Discovery myself! This book is a masterpiece of understatement. The Lewis and Clark expedition was the "lunar landing" of the 19th century.

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Summary: So far it is AMAZING
Review: Although this book is long, and my seem to be BORING at the begining, once you get to the actual expidition, it's great. It is an easy read, because I am only 10 and I am already more than halfway. When the expidition meets the indians, it gets really exiting. This is a great book and is not for everyone.

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Summary: History, Geography, Leadership, Science--It's all here!
Review: I literally devoured Ambrose's tale of the Lewis and Clark expedition. While fascinating as an adventure tale, the story is equally compelling as an examination of leadership, determination, and courage.

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Summary: Felt Like I Was There
Review: Despite seemingly tedious pages of details on how the voyage began, by the time the voyage began I felt like I was a party to the journey! For some weird reason, I really want to retrace the voyage and see what Lewis and Clark saw. This book gives the reader the unusual ability to both join in on the journey and appreciate the "what ifs", particularly during the Indian encounters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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Summary: A Great Adventure Story
Review: Thought I knew the story but learned something new and wonderful on every page. The Lewis and Clark Discovery Team were the astronauts of their time, certainly braver - and their discoveries much greater. To think it all happened when the country was just fresh from the War of Independence and travelling from New York to Philadephia took several days - truly remarkable.

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Summary: Outstanding book, good read, factual error
Review: For the most part, I enjoyed the book. Mr. Ambrose writes with an immediacy that brings the period of time to life and personalizes the participants including Jefferson. I was disappointed, however, when, on page 302, he placed the settlement of The Dalles in Washington instead of Oregon where it belongs. This concerned me because I felt there might be other errors that may also have gotten into the book undetected.

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Summary: Hard to put down story of a great adventure
Review: Ambrose captures the Lewis & Clark's sense of adventure, the feeling of venturing into the unknown experienced by America's first "Right Stuff." He also places many of the events in context so that the reader can better understand then-contemporary attitudes and customs.

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Summary: An engaging and sweeping saga--and it's true!
Review: From the start, Ambrose weaves us into the lives of Lewis and Clark, especially their strong, loyal friendship. He unfolds the new American West gradually, just as the Lewis and Clark Voyageurs encountered it, that you are transported up river and over mountains with them. All the hardships, misgivings, painful mistakes, and lucky accidents are explored and explained. And what was particularly interesting was what happened to Lewis after the journey. How his life and luck were never the same--as if he was now out of place in both the East and the West. What a sad end to an American hero. The stuff of movies. Great reading--if a trifle long (my only complaint).

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Summary: Thouroughly engaging story of one of the great explorations
Review: Ambrose recounts one of the great true stories in the american experience. He not only tells the facts meticulously, but gives insight into the personalities and lives of the people involved in this expedition. This is a story that is nearly mythical in its accomplishments and consequences, and Ambrose does an admirable job with the material. The only fault is with the first three chapters on the backgrond of Merriwether Lewis. They tend to be ponderous like a history textbook and of a different tone, as if they were added as an afterthought.

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Summary: One of Ambrose's best!
Review: Anything Stephen Ambrose writes is wonderful, but this one is riveting, and it is evident the author has done his homework. Arguably the most definitive work on the subject of Lewis and Clark, it makes the journey come alive for the reader, perhaps because Ambrose took the trip with his family and spent time retracing the route of Lewis and Clark. This is one I spent every spare moment reading and wished it wouldn't end. It felt like I was really there with the courageous Corps of Discovery. Absolutely supberb!