Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Western Wilderness [Paperback]

"Undaunted Courage," by the great American author Stephen E. Ambrose is a book that will always be remembered. I found the up close look at Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and William Clark priceless. However, the backbone of this well-researched and superbly written book is the tale of brave men exploring an unknown frontier and only losing one member of the party.

Moreover, Ambrose documents the "essential honesty" that distinguished Lewis and Clark from other explorers like Hernando DeSoto and Francisco Pizarro who were looking for gold or wanted to convert Indians to Christianity. Ambrose also does an excellent job of informing the reader the sad truth of American Indian Policy which at the time of the expedition was, "get out of the way or get killed."

Nevertheless, this truly special book examines Jefferson, the "empire builder,"...Lewis, the fellow Virginian with a rich family history and a passion for exploration and Clark, the professional soldier and pragmatic friend who provided valuable leadership during key moments of the trip.

Lewis, Jefferson and Clark helped the United States become a continental power stretching from sea to sea. Ultimately, the news of Lewis and Clark's return and the subsequent published journals triggered a rush for the mountains across the nation. This is a wonderful book...because the partnership of Lewis and Clark is arguably the most famous in American history. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

I bought this book mainly because I have all of Stephen Ambrose's books and like his style of writing, commonly with passion and normally very informative. This is the case with Undaunted Courage and I think it is one of his best books.

After purchasing quite a large 'plot' of land from Napoleon in 1803 through the Louisiana Purchase i.e. about a third of the USA for $15,000,000 (not a bad deal!), Thomas Jefferson commissions an expedition to chart a new trail to the Pacific coast and to explore this newly purchased territory. No mean feat as it takes the expeditionary team eighteen months to complete this mammoth undertaking as the land encompasses most of the western half of the USA.

There are epic river journeys up the Mississippi & Missouri rivers, a gruelling traverse of the Rockies and then the finale of the hair raising decent of the Columbus river until eventually these pioneers reach the Pacific...and then they come all the way back! There are Indians, grizzly bears, treacherous trails, white knuckle river rides and a host of other dangers along the way...truly an amazing journey!

This however is not just a story of a journey by a team out to chart and explore hitherto previously unknown territory. This is also a scientific journey of discovery of great importance. In this aspect, according to the author, it ranks alongside Darwin and Cook's in importance. The scientific collection and documentation involved is vast but is explained very well in the book.

Reading about this great journey was enthralling for me as it gave me an education into how the USA expanded into a two ocean country and henceforth into a superpower. This is a book really about the second birth of America, the first belongs to the Pilgrim Fathers....there is a third birth too and that belongs to the 1846 war with Mexico when the USA acquires another large 'plot' of land including California from the Mexicans but that is another story.

In summation this is a book that really gives you an insight into how America was really pioneered and explored, more so it explains the hardships, tragedies and tribulations involved by those that did it....a great historic read.

"Undaunted Courage" covers events of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that preclude and culminated in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Included are the backgrounds of the expedition's leaders, and the tragic epilogue to the adventure for Meriwether Lewis.

The group of exceptional people that participated in the expedition was referred to as the "Corps of Discovery" by Captain Meriwether Lewis.

The newly formed and expanding United States of America were in an economic, political and cultural competition for control of the rich resources west of the Mississippi river. President Thomas Jefferson who had purchased the Louisiana territory in order to secure the nation's place in that competition, did so without actually knowing for sure its potential, since no one had been there to evaluate or map it. Jefferson needed someone to find out what it was he purchased from the French. He searched for and found in Meriwether Lewis a singular human being who proved to have the desire and capability to organize and implement one of the greatest explorations of all times. The exploration originated in the nation's capitol, began its penetration of wilderness at St. Louis on the Mississippi river, traversed the entire Missouri and Columbia rivers to the pacific coast and returned again to the Mississippi river, all in a 3 year span of time.

In his book Steven Ambrose has undertaken the extensive task of compiling and chronicling the birth and execution of the Corps' incredible journey across the early 19th century American western wilderness. These compilations and interpretations probe beyond pure historic fact to explore the character and personalities of the expeditions proponents, participants and critics. Accomplishments of the Corps and the expeditions epilogue are worth the time it takes to read them as they give a more human, intimate meaning to the formation of our country and the character of its leaders.

Stories of encounters with inhabitants of the territory, both human and animal are well presented; descriptions of the landscape, living conditions and hazards endured satisfy the most discerning reader's interest.

Discussed are the expeditions goals which were to find if a waterway across the continent to the Pacific ocean existed that would open up global commerce; inventory the resources of the territory; open a dialog with native inhabitants of the area and persuade them that resistance was futile. Numerous other benefits would accrue to the U.S. as may be uncovered by reading this wordy but interesting volume.

Probably due to the extensive amount of material covered and its length, this book may be for some a labor to read. However, a minimum of curiosity and discipline will provide the reader with insight not usually available from purely historical writings. It was not written as a novel, but if the reader will use a creative imagination and allow freedom of emotion during the reading, the expedition can become a real thriller.

Stephen Ambrose, in much the manner of Captain Lewis, undertook the task of compiling the explorer's adventures and set them to print in this book, not a work of art, but a work of admiration.