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Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Ambrose
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  342 reviews
Sales Rank: 4145
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 521
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0684826976
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.8042
EAN: 9780684826974
ASIN: 0684826976
Publication Date: June 2, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: The book is clean but may have highlights.
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Amazon.com
A biography of Meriwether Lewis that relies heavily on the journals of both Lewis and Clark, this book is also backed up by the author's personal travels along Lewis and Clark's route to the Pacific. Ambrose is not content to simply chronicle the events of the "Corps of Discovery" as the explorers called their ventures. He often pauses to assess the military leadership of Lewis and Clark, how they negotiated with various native peoples and what they reported to Jefferson. Though the expedition failed to find Jefferson's hoped for water route to the Pacific, it fired interest among fur traders and other Americans, changing the face of the West forever.
Product Description
In this sweeping adventure story, Stephen E. Ambrose, the bestselling author od D-Day, presents the definitive account of one of the most momentous journeys in American history. Ambrose follows the Lewis and Clark Expedition from Thomas Jefferson's hope of finding a waterway to the Pacific, through the heart-stopping moments of the actual trip, to Lewis's lonely demise on the Natchez Trace. Along the way, Ambrose shows us the American West as Lewis saw it -- wild, awsome, and pristinely beautiful. Undaunted Courage is a stunningly told action tale that will delight readers for generations.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 337 more reviews...
 The tale of the Lewis and Clark expedition May 10, 2008
What I liked best about this book is that it reads like a neighbor telling you all about his favorite nephew. Ambrose's descriptions and judgments and asides have almost an avuncular feel. If this is not your thing, the book will probably bug you.
What I liked least about this book is Ambrose's unquestioning high regard for Jefferson, but since Ambrose's attitude reflects that of Lewis's, I can go with it.
The outtakes of the journals, the excellent maps, and the good-natured commentary combine to make me LIKE the characters. I feel familiar with them after reading this book. I am impressed by their accomplishments, and feel I know them as people much better.
It is also clear that Ambrose knows the areas where Lewis and Clark explored. Many of his notations tell how the area described look to present-day canoers or hikers, and he gives highway exits and directions to some of the less-remote campsites and overlooks. Ambrose's love for the beauties of western America come through, and they add to the fond tone of the book.
 Undaunted Courage May 9, 2008
I will keep it simple. Next to the Holy Bible ~ best book I ever read. I have since then read several of Stephen Ambrose's books and highly recommend them. He and his family put many years of research in before writing any book. I have travelled across the country all the way to Cape Disapportment as a result of reading the book and following the trail. Everything Mr. Ambrose claimed in the book is accurate, very interesting, and provides us a heritage for our country that everyone should be proud of.
Ambrose at his Best May 5, 2008
The history of the Voyage of Discovery is one of the outstanding feats in American history. No one has told it better than Stephen Ambrose. This is a must read even if you don't enjoy history.
Good Read April 15, 2008
I got this book for my birthday, picked it up, and enjoyed every page. It is a great way to learn more about the founding fathers of this country and have some real-life adventure as well as tragic thrown in throughout. Those things that we now take for granted once required risk of life to achieve. Great Read!
 poor pop history February 6, 2008
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
READ DEVOTO'S EDIT OF THE JOURNALS INSTEAD! There is probably a link for it somewhere on your screen. Please get that instead, you will enjoy reading about the trip from Lewis more then from Ambrose.
I read DeVoto's edit of the journals first, and it was great. I could have read a thousand more pages, and I might, by getting a copy of the entire journals. The journals themselves give the best, most exciting, and clearest version of the trip. There really is no comparing the journals themselves to this second hand retelling. Please don't review this critique unless you have read both, because I bet you would agree with me.
It really upsets me that people like this book or think it has any value. It shows how limited peoples understanding of history is. It's completely worthless to Lewis and Clark historiography and is really poorly written. I had a difficult time finishing it. This is a book for people who don't have a history background and don't know any better, for people who read the current best selling fiction books and want to try some non-fiction. It is not for historians or people serious about learning about Lewis and Clark. Historians will read the complete journals and read the various articles about parts of the trip. Serious history fans with time constraints will read an edited version of journals. Unfortunately, most people read this cheap literature and love it.
There is, however, an important purpose to secondary accounts of the trip.
When reading the edited journals there will be questions that you want answered that DeVoto either did not put in or they were not yet researched at the time DeVoto edited the journals. Things like why people got sick, or background information about different tribes, ect. Things that the journsls do not themselves explain but that maybe a doctor or a historain could clear up.
An example is the loud noise heard by the party near the mountains. If my memory serves me correctly this is not explained in the Journals or Courage, however after reading a book about David Thompson, who was also in the area at this time, it seems likely that the sound was in fact frequent, intense avalanches. This is what Ambrose is supposed to tell, and in fact he did a respectable job of it. The problem is with the rest of the book.
'Courage' can be divided into three separate parts, though the parts switch back and forth frequently throughout the book.
(1)- the details, info, and unanswered questions that you can't get from the journals themselves but really want to know after reading the journals
(2)- a brief narrative of lewis's life and the trip
(3)- worthless speculation and opinion
(1) is what we are here for, and there is some good stuff here, but lets be honest, this isn't really Ambrose's work. He is building off the work of many other Lewis and Clark scholars, researches, doctors, ect. who have in numerous other works helped explain many of the events of the trip
(2) Ambrose isn't a great story teller. It's about as exciting and detailed as reading a wikipedia entry. To be fair, I read it right after the journals, so it's hard to compete with the people who actually did it.
(3) I'm not sure why Ambrose would periodically end a chapter or whatever with some worthless hypo about would could of happened if this and this Indian killed Lewis or he fell of this mountain, or whatever. His random speculations about possible out comes or opinions about behavior sound more like a high school teacher, a tour guide, or a jr. history enthusiast, than a historian.
And while I'm at it, what kind of book is this anyway? A history, a biography? I'm not sure Ambrose had decided himself, just look at his long apologia at the beginning. He knew what he was writing didn't really fit into Lewis and Clark scholarship. He was in two minds when he wrote this book. Half of him wanted to tell the story of the trip to his kids around the camp fire, the other half wanted to narrate the life of Lewis. Both came off half cocked.
So, 1/3 of the book is good stuff, 1/3 is ok, and 1/3 is worthless.
3/3 of the journals are priceless.
Someone needs to take the info that we all wonder about when we read the DeVoto's journals and put it in foot notes of a re'edited version. When that happens Ambroses book will be 3/3 worthless. This is POP HISTORY and it sucks. Read the Journals.
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