Rating: 
Summary: Excellent account of expedition.
Review: Ambrose does a wonderful job filling in the white space in the logs of Lewis, Clark and others. This is a must read for anyone desiring in depth details of the daily trials and pursuits of real pioneers.
Rating:
Summary: In my top ten all time reads!
Review: I have always read history, and I am particularly interested in American history. But, I had never given Lewis and Clark much time or thought until I read Undaunted Courage. From the preparations for the journey to the expedition's return to St. Louis the book hums with excitement. It is filled with interesting characters--the mercurial Lewis, Cruzatte the one-eyed boatman, Drouillard the hunter, Jefferson the visionary, the scheming Manuel Lisa, Sacagawea bereft of myth, all are brought to life by Stephen Ambrose. Ambrose is a man who is so captured by the L and C story that he went over the route himself many times, and describes that magnificent country as it must have been nearly 200 years ago so that the reader cannot help but form images in their mind. And if the people and the scenery were not enough, this book has the sub-plots for at least five different movies--Showdown with the Teton Sioux, winter the lovely Mandan maidens, the miracle meeting with the Shoshone and Sacagawea's brother Cameahwaite (in my view one of the great happenstances of all history,) the wretched winter in the Northwest, the encounter with the Blackfeet. So why isn't there a good movie about Lewis and Clark? This book has fueled what will be a lifelong passion for Lewis and Clark. It makes my annual pilgrimages to Fort Clatsop so much more meaningful for me and the 60 eighth graders who accompany me each year. If you really like this book, I encourage you to follow it up with Dayton Duncan's "Out West," which brings the great adventure into the 20th Century.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic read!
Review: This book chronicles one of the greatest true life adventures in American history. I couldn't put it down. Any one who loves the outdoors, history, or adventure will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Run, do not walk, to a bookstore and get this.
Review: Usually I read from 9 to 10 p.m. or so. While reading Undaunted Courage, I noticed myself going to bed earlier and earlier -- so I could rejoin Lewis and Clark and the rest of the Corps of Discovery. The best proof of the book's quality is that now I yearn to spend a few vacations following in their footsteps; Ambrose has done it, and most of his readers will want to also. I don't call many books gripping, but this one is.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Story of an Incredible Journey
Review: The Lewis and Clark expedition is one of the most amazing feats of US history. Why read this particular acount? By focusing on Lewis Ambrose allows you to see the expedition in a manner that is almost personal. I say almost because this reader never quite understood Lewis, and Ambrose gives all of us ample reason to be confused about who he was and what he was capable of. The challenge of the description of the expedition is, to my mind, pace. How to capture the feel of the day to day courage, not to mention the energy required. Ambrose does an excellent job of this. There are a few passages where his sense of pace fails altogether, but they served, for this reader, to point out just how well Ambrose succeeded in the rest of this book.
If you decide to read this book promise yourself you will not judge it until Lewis and Clark leave St. Louis to go north. It is slow until that point, but Ambrose was right to include it. Do not judge the book until you have seen its best parts.
Rating:
Summary: Are there any Lewis' left?
Review: Everyone (hopefully) knows the 'facts' about this episode in US history - the purchase of the Lousiana Terratory and the expedition to the Pacific Ocean lead by Lewis and Clark. What most people do not know is contained in this well written, compelling narrative.
Ambrose takes the reader by the hand and together accompany the explorers across rivers, over mountains and prairies until they reach the Pacific Ocean. He also paints a convincing background of the beliefs (e.g., that the Mandan Indians might have been the Lost Tribe of Israel) and politics which fueled Jefferson's ambitions for the future of America.
However, the heart of this story is the character of Meriweather Lewis. A man, born into a landed and privileged family in Virginia, Lewis is the epitomity of self reliance, a man of modest but heroic proportions. His observations of the 'new' lands, animals, mountians and challenges he was facing are both scientific and moving. His ability to lead men, co-manage the Corps of Disc
Rating: 
Summary: This book bogs down pretty quick
Review: Well-written, all you could ever want to know about this expedition, but certainly not gripping
reading for 500 pages! After you are halfway
through the book you'll begin to look around for
the next bestseller. Overall mildly interesting;
no sex and the violence seems antiseptic.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for everyone.
Review: For anyone with a general interest in the Lewis & Clark expedition, I rate this as a must read. For those of us who like history but do not want the full in depth line by line read of the complete journals but do want the knowledge, read it. Stephen Ambrose give us the vital details of the man behind the deed. Lewis' thoughts and motivations, prejudices and failings. I now know Lewis was man of his times and every once in a while a man beyond his times, both brilliant and blind
Rating:
Summary: Well written, detailed view with one glaring omission
Review: "Undaunted Courage" is a well written, detailed look at Meriwether Lewis and his management of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition across the Louisiana Purchase. The author, Stephen Ambrose is clearly entralled with Lewis's adventures and he has a right to be. The decisions Lewis made, his unrelenting passion for the job given him by THomas Jefferson and the ingenuity he showed on so many difficult situations reveals Lewis to be a man of immense courage, stamina and intelligence. With one glaring omission the author reveals the true depth of Lewis and his abilities. We come away with a sense of how huge this undertaking truly was, how much knowledge was available to be gathered (and the supreme job that Lewis did in gathering so much of it) and the many layers of politics surrounding the expedition.
While noting in passing Lewis' many racist acts towards native Americans and his paternalistic attitude towards native Americans and African Americans, Ambrose does not at any point go into detail to look at what Lewis' racism says about the man and how it impacts the job Lewis did or the contributions that others made to his success. It is not enough to simply assume he was a man of his times. He was smart enough to see the possibilities in the native Americans who's skills he could use. In fact a number of native Americans played such an important role in the journey that it can be said it would have failed without them. While this is not the focus of the book and should not overshadow it, Ambrose himself notes the racist acts so often that the reader is left with many questions and ideas which could have been explored in somewhat more detail by the author.
Having said that, I enjoyed the book immensely both for its deep history and for the pleasure of the author's own energy. Ambrose clearly loves the adventure of Lewis'journey, the countryside in which it played out and the telling of so many incredible tales.
Robert Quinn-o'Connor (robo@critpath.org)
Rating:
Summary: Unexpected.. great book
Review: I bought this book because I thought I "should" read it and take a break from the pure entertainment stuff I had become accustomed to reading. The surprise was how entertaining this book was! I was fascinated by it, read excerpts aloud to my family, and truly learned a lot of history. I had no idea how important Lewis and Clark's journey was. I have recommended it to many!
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