The Journals of Lewis and Clark

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Summary: Cover copy:
Review: "These journals are a national literary treasure . . . What you get from DeVoto is the heart of the story, without sacrificing any of the narrative or much of the natural history . . . It is the ideal selection for the citizen-reader, an American classic in its own right, a book that will be read as long as the Republic lasts." -- from the Foreword by Stephen E. Ambrose, author of "Undaunted Courage"

In 1803, when the United States purchased Louisiana from France, the great expanse of the new American territory was a blank--not only on the map but in our knowledge. President Jefferson keenly understood that the course of the nation's destiny lay westward and that a national "Voyage of Discovery" must be mounted to determine the nature and accessibility of the frontier.

He commissioned his young secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead an intelligence-gathering expedition from the Missouri River to the northern Pacific coast and back. From 1804 to 1806, Lewis, accompanied by co-captain William Clark, the Shoshone guide Sacajawea, and some 30 men, made the first trek across the Louisiana Purchase, mapping the rivers as he went, tracing the principal waterways to the sea, and establishing the American claim to the territories of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Together the captains kept a journal, a richly detailed record of the flora and fauna they sighted, the Indian tribes they encountered, and the awe-inspiring landscape they traversed, from their base camp near present-day St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River. In keeping this record they made an incomparable contribution to the literature of exploration and the writing of natural history.

"The Journals of Lewis and Clark," writes Bernard DeVoto, was "the first report on the West, on the United States over the hill and beyond the sunset, on the province of the American future. There has never been another so excellent or so influential . . . It satisfied desire and it created desire: the desire of the westering nation."

BERNARD DeVOTO (1897-1955) was one of America's greatest men of letters. His historical trilogy on America's westward expansion, comprising "The Year of Decision," "Across the Wide Missouri," and "The Course of Empire," belongs, in the words of Wallace Stegner, "on the shelf that contains only Prescott, Bancroft, Motley, Adams, and Parkman."

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Summary: An amazing adventure story charmingly told.
Review: Expect a dry recitation of a dreary tale? Think again. These pages from the logs of Lewis and Clark recount their American safari and pulsate with life and a dedication to task that is not only heroic but endearing. Everything is here, from science to sex with survival skills and hand-to-hand combat to boot. These people spring off these pages as alive today as they were nearly 200 years ago. As good an example of the truth being stranger than fiction as you will find.

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Summary: One great American story
Review: Fascinating personal day-by-day account of the journey of Lewis and Clark through the Louisiana Territory. As you read, you feel yourself slowly seeing the American west as it was seen by those who first wrote of its magnificence, the customs of the natives, the wildlife, and climate. You see it for what it was, and for its possibilities. This edition has been edited from the individual journals of both Lewis and Clark and some of the others. It has been made more compact by putting in only passages that tell the story, but with no sentence restructuring or spelling corrections. Sometimes this requires you to figure the meaning out, but is never a big problem. The chapter length was perfect for reading a chapter a day which means 33 days. The only bad chapter was 31, which was a summary of one leg lifted from DeVoto's The Course of Empire, which I felt was harder to understand than the journals. The appendix includes Jefferson's Instructions, list of personnel, and specimens returned.

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Summary: The greatest american adventure
Review: I've read many books but absolutely nothing compares to this. Lewis & Clark's story should be required reading in schools, not only for it's history but for the style of thier writing.Lewis and Clark had it all,adventure,hardships,danger every day something new, and through it all they kept a clear vision of purpose. The way they disciplined and rewarded thier men, the way they treated the Indians with fair respect is how we wanted this country to be. Never a more perfect name," THE COPRS OF DISCOVERY"!!!

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Summary: What a wonderful book, tremendous courage, modestly told!
Review: In this day of overblown hype with every event, no matter how trivial, being glorified mostly by those envolved, The Journals are refreshingly different. These brave men,and one woman, faced danger on a daily basis, and yet, almost always reacted exactly right. If you want to learn about the most famous American expedition, what better way than in their own words, superbly edited by DeVoto. Their unassuming and matter of fact reporting leaves it to the reader to imagine the courage of these great explorers. My favorate book of 1998 and 1999.

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Summary: An Incredible Journey
Review: It took me about six months reading this book off and on to get through the whole thing, but it was well worth it. Anyone who enjoys American history absolutely must read this. I have not read any of the other editions, so I cannot speak about how this one compares with the others, but I can say that despite many times having to slog through a lot of boring detail, there are so many fascinating passages that overall, it was a lot of fun. One of the most interesting things about reading the book was comparing the narrative about various locations with current maps to see how things have changed over the last 200 years, and where certain events occurred on a current map. It is a little sad to see how much natural beauty and wildlife has been lost because of the effects of modern civilization. Sometimes it was difficult to flip back and forth through the book to try to follow the expedition's progress on the maps in the book. I would have wished for more maps, to make this job a little easier.

One of the fascinating aspects of the story is how many times they were attacked by unfriendly indians, and how they managed, with excellent leadership, to make the entire journey and only lost one man, and that to disease, not warfare.

Another interesting point that I recall was how the indians they came in contact with could not understand how the Americans could stand their own stench. The indians bathed daily, even in winter, but the Americans hardly at all.

And another interesting point was how the expedition made almost the entire journey subsisting almost exclusively on meat, from the wild game they were able to hunt, only rarely is there any mention of eating any vegetables.

Altogether, one of the most intesting and valuable contributions to American history and literature, and a real "must read" for history buffs.

Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Journey
Review: It took me about six months reading this book off and on to get through the whole thing, but it was well worth it. Anyone who enjoys American history absolutely must read this. I have not read any of the other editions, so I cannot speak about how this one compares with the others, but I can say that despite many times having to slog through a lot of boring detail, there are so many fascinating passages that overall, it was a lot of fun. One of the most interesting things about reading the book was comparing the narrative about various locations with current maps to see how things have changed over the last 200 years, and where certain events occurred on a current map. It is a little sad to see how much natural beauty and wildlife has been lost because of the effects of modern civilization. Sometimes it was difficult to flip back and forth through the book to try to follow the expedition's progress on the maps in the book. I would have wished for more maps, to make this job a little easier.

One of the fascinating aspects of the story is how many times they were attacked by unfriendly indians, and how they managed, with excellent leadership, to make the entire journey and only lost one man, and that to disease, not warfare.

Another interesting point that I recall was how the indians they came in contact with could not understand how the Americans could stand their own stench. The indians bathed daily, even in winter, but the Americans hardly at all.

And another interesting point was how the expedition made almost the entire journey subsisting almost exclusively on meat, from the wild game they were able to hunt, only rarely is there any mention of eating any vegetables.

Altogether, one of the most intesting and valuable contributions to American history and literature, and a real "must read" for history buffs.

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Summary: Amazing leadership and fortitude.
Review: Other reviewers have said it before me, and it is all true, but what came across most (for me) was the leadership skills that enabled such a large party to live together on the verge of starvation at times, with an Indian woman and her baby, and only have one argument! Add that to the diplomatic skills involved in negotiating with hostiles, collecting specimens, mapping the progress, foraging for food (Drewyer must be the best hunter EVER!), surviving sub-zero mountain passes and grizzly attacks, with the loss of only one life, and you have an engrossing account of what must rank as one of THE greatest adventures of all time!

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Summary: This is the BEST book I have ever read!
Review: Sure, you'll find the occasional spelling error (they were ATROCIOUS spellers!) and grammar mistake, but all in all, it earned me an A on a report. It gives great explanations first-hand, and lets you feel like you're Captain Lewis, using a sextant or Captain Clark, making maps. You can see the grizzly chasing men into the water... you can feel the strong winds in the three-week storm at the Pacific ocean. You can get so caught up in my SUMMARY that you forget- the real story has to be better: it was written by THE Meriwether Lewis and William Clark! (Written by a boy with a vivid imagination... which wasn't used at all in reading this. It explained a lot.)

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Summary: A National Treasure
Review: The introduction to this book, written by Stephen Ambrose, states that the Journals of Lewis and Clark are an American treasure. At first this seemed like hyperbole, but while reading the Journals, it became clearer why this statement was made.

For in the Journals the reader sees in the mind's eye the vast prairies, indomitable mountains, wide, powerful rivers, and vast Pacific Ocean as Lewis and Clark saw them. Through the Journals the reader encounters Indian tribes, both friendly and fierce. At other times, the puzzling descriptions of previously unknown species of animals and plants give insight as to what discovery and exploration mean. This is what makes the Journals a national treasure. Reading the Journals gives the contemporary reader a sense of what it was like to look at the American West for the first time. In an era when there are precious few corners of the earth that have not been mapped, the Journals convey reader to a time when exploration was not only commonplace, but a necessity for national survival.

The Journals of Lewis and Clark are not particularly easy to read at times if you are not accustomed to the reading genre of travel diaries. Also, at times, the terse writing style of William Clark made the Journal difficult to plow through. Merriweather Lewis' entries were much more readable, but his entries do not appear until after the first quarter or so of this edition.

If you are a person who likes maps, the number of maps is low and and the detail they provide is small. There may be other versions of the Journals out there that provide better maps.

The commentaries provided before certain chapters that summarize the events that the Journals are about to relate are very helpful in understanding the narratives that follow.

For the reader not well versed in the Corps of Discovery, I am not sure if the Journals of Lewis and Clark is the best book to read first when learning about their expedition. Undaunted Courage or another such book might be better first choice if you want to build a curriculum on Lewis and Clark. Looking back, I would suggest reading the Journals in tandem with such a book, to get a balance between the two styles: historical narrative and diary.

Regardless of how the reader approaches the Journals, either by itself or in conjunction with other works, at some point, the critical reader will consult if not read the Journals of Lewis and Clark for a broader perspective on the secondary histories.