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Summary: Daunting Work
Review: For a fascinating and informative journey through American lore and history, Stephen Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage" is a great choice. It's a story of daunting physical and mental courage, and, the beginning of how the West was won. I feel I would also like to add my name to those other reviewers who recommend also reading Norman Thomas Remick's "West Point: Character Leadership Education, A Book Developed From Thomas Jefferson's Readings And Writings" which is less about West Point and more the epic of America's historical and philosophical genesis.
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Summary: The ultimate camping trip
Review: I have found Ambrose to be a hit and miss author, having read his books on Eisenhower (a hit) and the Transcontinental Railroad (a miss). This book fits into the former category.This book is a biography of Merriwether Lewis with the focus on his famous expedition with William Clark. Ambrose does a good job describing the hardships that Lewis and Clark went through during their trip across the country. Few acts of exploration are comparable; they went across completely uncharted territory filled with both natural and human perils and suffered a minimal number of losses. There is a lot of good material in here and Ambrose tries to be fair to all sides. For example, Lewis is portrayed as heroic at times and rash or suicidal at others; the Indians they encounter are sometimes benevolent and sometimes hostile or thieving. Ambrose portrays the individuals in these events as the complex characters they are. As for Lewis and Clark, their names are inseparable in history, and Ambrose makes a good case that that would be okay with them. They were good friends and had complementary skills that made their mission a success. But in Ambrose's version of the story, Lewis is the main character, and that helps make his book a great read.
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Summary: Undaunted Courage
Review: For anyone who is seduced by wide skies, un-impeeded winds, and elbow room, this book transports you like no other. Because much of it is from the original journal of Meriweather Lewis, it smacks of authenticity. Few contemporary writers (Mary Taylor Young, with her new book, Land of Grass and Sky is one) can match Stephen Ambrose's upfront, clean, picture-painting prose. This book and Land of Grass and Sky are two must-reads for anyone who cares about and wants to understand better our Western expanses.
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Summary: Rediscovering American History
Review: What our forefathers went through to allow us to live in this wonderful country is amazing. I have been reading novels for years and picked up this book while on a visit to Montana. Now I can't wait to read more American History.
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Summary: Interesting Description of Epic American West Adventure
Review: Like other Ambrose books that I have read, Undaunted Courage is well written and researched. It tells the tell of Lewis and Clarks' great adventure across the USA. I have not read much of anything about this epic adventure before finishing this book, so I expected to learn a lot from one of America's best historians- I was not disappointed. You get some great insight into what America was like in the early 1800s. America was full of great promise (the pioneer spirit, the land of opportunity, etc), but we also faced some serious problems (treatment of blacks, indians, woman, etc). One of the great ironies of the book is that some of the people who help Lewis and Clark to fulfill their mission, are treated the worst by the pair. Makes you wonder how such highly educated men (to include President Jefferson) could be so wrong about certain things, yet inspire others to accomplish great deeds. Ambrose is a great storyteller, one of the best. His passion runs deep for this subject, so he gets long winded (as many other reviewers have noted) at times in the narrative. I think that is my main complaint about the book. Ambrose takes forever to get the explorers across the country, but returns them in a whirlwind. The book would have been better served if Ambrose took a more balanced approach to the expeditions timeline, giving equal weight to both parts of the trip. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the cross-country adventure of Lewis and Clark. If you are ignorant about the subject, like I was (I thought it was just the pair with their female indian guide for most the trip), you will gain greater insight into one of America's truly historic events. Lastly, this book will make you appreciate many of the advancements we have made since then (i.e- transportation and communication systems), although it may also make you want to spend more time enjoying the wonderful outdoor parks of America.
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Summary: A riveting account of an unbelievable adventure!
Review: I grew up along the Missouri river in central North Dakota. All my life I heard about Lewis and Clark's amazing expedition to the Pacific. I've visited The Mandan villages and fished on Lake Sacagawea. Some have called this book a biography of Meriwether Lewis while others say that it is a history book. I say that it is the best of both. ...As a biography of Lewis, it is well balanced, portraying Lewis as a brave and intelligent commander (he was the ranking officer, but he treated Clark as an equal). It also portrays Lewis as a depressed man who frequently lashed out in anger and frustration, putting the mission and his men in jeopardy. It also does not try and cover-up his tragic last years and his suicide. ...As a piece of narrative history, it is a riveting account of the expedition and a stunning look at America before cities and the destruction of it's forests and wildlife. Based on the journals or Lewis & Clark, Jefferson, and others. Highly Recommended!!
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Summary: Undaunted Ambivalence
Review: I am deeply ambivalent about Lewis and Clark. Part of me applauds their determinism and the rugged individualism they displayed, a quality that is universally lauded as a virtue in the abstract but is almost always cruelly punished by an indifferent society when practiced. Then there is another part of me that wishes the Mandans or the Hidatsas or the Brule or the Piegans would've slaughtered the whole syphilitic lot of them. As Ambrose repeatedly observes, this would've left a river tribe in possession of the greatest weapons cache west of Illinois. Perhaps this might have postponed for a few years the berserk settlement of the West and the greedy and piecemeal state of land rights governance that evolved over the past 200 years. In any case, there is much to be learned here by the casual scholar, particularly regarding Lewis' upbringing and life in the Jefferson White House, as well as the personal and professional chaos that dogged him in the few years between his return and his death by presumed suicide. This is principally a tale of Captain Lewis - Jefferson is painted as the yeoman farmer in the manner that recent historiography has favored, Clark is a steady and uncurious sort, Sacajawea is little more than a footnote, John Colter rates no more than an occasional sentence. While this keeps the biography on target, it also robs the narrative of some dimension. As we follow the Corps of Discovery to the Oregon Coast and back, we become interested in their individual stories but the ultimate fates of the entire platoon (except for Lewis and Sgt. Floyd, the only fatality) are never revealed. Careful editing would've kept the book on target, as everything after the Winter of 1805-06 is treated almost as an aftermath than a continuation of a tale - and as any mountaineer might tell you, the most interesting stuff usually happens on the way down. For the most part Ambrose writes in a lively (if occasionally embroidered) style, although his personal voice can be distracting. For example, he tells us that if he were sinking in a boat on the ocean, he would want Lewis in charge. (I think I might prefer a SCUBA instructor or hot air balloon vendor.) But the tale moves along like the Missouri River itself - meandering in some places, urgent in others. The tales of political squabbling post-expedition are some of the best in the book and Ambrose successfully captures the mood of the government in the wake of his discoveries. It's interesting to see that then, as now, our Congressional delegation understands the natural world the same way a drunken frat boy understands a dewy and unspoiled freshman girl who has passed out in his room.
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Summary: Ambose does injustice to Meriwether Lewis
Review: Yes, Ambrose provides an entertaining romp through the era of the great Lewis and Clark Expedition. But he commits an awful disservice to readers (and Meriwether Lewis) by painting Lewis as a manic-depressive drug addict who committed suicide. I've read all of the available journals from the expedition, various bios on Lewis, and I've researched various archival material, so I know better than to believe Ambrose's opinion. Ambrose twists the truth, and he omits obviously important material from his book so that his opinion will seem to be fact. Some "historian."
Did Lewis kill himself? The answer is currently unknowable. My best advice is to read Vardis Fisher's "Suicide or Murder?" If you can afford to buy and read the set of journals edited by Gary Moulton, you, too, will know better than Ambrose.
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Summary: Undaunted Courage: Physical Courage, Mental Courage
Review: For an interesting and informative journey through an important piece of American history, I recommend "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen E. Ambrose. It's a portrait of physical courage. I also recommend "West Point: ... Thomas Jefferson" by Norman Thomas Remick for an interesting and educational journey through history that becomes the epic of the USA. It's a portrait of mental courage.
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Summary: Dolphins at Daybrake Book Review
Review: Dolphins at Daybreak Book Review Dolphins at Daybreak is a really cool book because Annie and Jack travel to places to change their ways. The author is Mary Pope Osborn. She writes lots of Magic Tree House books. If you like oceans you will like Dolphins at Daybreak. If you like ocean animals you will like Dolphins at Daybreak. If you like adventures you will like Dolphins at Daybreak...
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