<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A Thrilling Read!
Review: After trying (trying is the operative word here) to slog through the journals in the original spelling and with little or no punctuation, it was a real joy to read this version edited by Anthony Brandt. The stories of their encounters with natives tribes, grizzley bears and of their day-to-day lives make for a compelling adventure story. And unlike the previous editions, Brandt summarizes those sections that are not included in well-crafted prose that keep the story flowing. This reads like the true adventure story it was and is destined to be a classic in the American history literature.
Rating:
Summary: This is the book to read!
Review: Brandt's abridgment of these important historical documents will be the one that lasts for years to come. He makes these journals accessible to the everyday historian, who is interested in what the Corps of Discovery actually did, and saves us from having to struggle with quaint and erroneous spelling. Interestingly, Lewis and Clark themselves never meant the journals to be published just as they wrote them. The editor Brandt has done us a great service by cleaning up the language, making the text flow seamlessly, and leaving out the boring parts. There are those who will carp over his correction of the spelling (pedants who read Virgil in the original), but the rest of us are grateful. Brandt's talent as a writer shines through the work as he connects the journal sections with elegantly crafted passages.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, the Story as Lewis & Clark would have told it
Review: It's no secret that the only narrative available from Lewis and Clark themselves was one they wrote in raw form while on their journey. While this offers a certain "real time" value, it is a value best appreciated by researchers and not your average reader. I was intrigued enough by other books in this series to want to hear about Lewis & Clark's adventures in their own words, but not to read details of every single day of their journey which, by its very nature, can't help but be monotonous.
This book, on the other hand, gave me a true sense of what their journey was like, and what they were like without giving me the details of each morning's breakfast menu.
And that sense, by the way, was conveyed without any sense of abruptness or with any apparent gaps in the narrative. This book was a joy insomuch as it delivered the experience smoothly in their own words without the kind of puzzling pauses which accompany writings in broken English.
In much the same way that this exploration opened the west, this book opened my eyes to this exploration. It is absolutely worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, the Story as Lewis & Clark would have told it
Review: It's no secret that the only narrative available from Lewis and Clark themselves was one they wrote in raw form while on their journey. While this offers a certain "real time" value, it is a value best appreciated by researchers and not your average reader. I was intrigued enough by other books in this series to want to hear about Lewis & Clark's adventures in their own words, but not to read details of every single day of their journey which, by its very nature, can't help but be monotonous.
This book, on the other hand, gave me a true sense of what their journey was like, and what they were like without giving me the details of each morning's breakfast menu.
And that sense, by the way, was conveyed without any sense of abruptness or with any apparent gaps in the narrative. This book was a joy insomuch as it delivered the experience smoothly in their own words without the kind of puzzling pauses which accompany writings in broken English.
In much the same way that this exploration opened the west, this book opened my eyes to this exploration. It is absolutely worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: This is the book to read!
Review: The real joy of the Lewis & Clark journals consists in their presentation of early 19th Century American idiom and spelling. This edition modernizes spelling, grammar and sentence structure. Clark , for example, never spelled Sioux the same way twice. Mosquitos often was spelled as mosquitors. I deeply missed the charming character of William Clark's English. Its absence is palpable in the text. Meriwether Lewis, on the other hand, was an elegant stylist whose prose needs no modernization. On balance, a disappointment that robs the true wealth of the Lewis & Clark Journals
Rating: 
Summary: expurgation of William Clark's idiosyncratic spelling fails
Review: The real joy of the Lewis & Clark journals consists in their presentation of early 19th Century American idiom and spelling. This edition modernizes spelling, grammar and sentence structure. Clark , for example, never spelled Sioux the same way twice. Mosquitos often was spelled as mosquitors. I deeply missed the charming character of William Clark's English. Its absence is palpable in the text. Meriwether Lewis, on the other hand, was an elegant stylist whose prose needs no modernization. On balance, a disappointment that robs the true wealth of the Lewis & Clark Journals
Rating:
Summary: Simply Outstanding
Review: This is an outstanding read made possible by excellent editing and editorial comment. Some have criticized the editor for modernizing and correcting the spelling and even interpreting the notes found in of Lewis and Clark's journals. Frankly I think that this is will make this edition of their journals more accessible to the masses. Their continental crossing and return is one of the greatest stories ever told and thank goodness they documented it so carefully.
The journey and this book have inspired me to make a trip or two next year to see for myself some of the places they saw and documented for the first time only two hundred years ago. Great editorial notation on places, animals, and people to give the modern reader some reference along with beginning chapter notes. Jefferson's amazing directive in its entirety is included. I liked reading it and referencing some good maps so I could vicariously place myself with the expedition. The Corps of Discovery was made up of great American hero's. This riveting journey is a must read for all ages.
<< 1 >>
| 
