Undaunted Courage
In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River to the Rockies, over the mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, and back. Lewis was the perfect choice. He endured incredible hardships and saw incredible sights, including vast herds of buffalo and Indian tribes that had had no previous contact with white men. He and his partner, Captain William Clark, made the first map of the trans-Mississippi West, provided invaluable scientific data on the flora and fauna of the Louisiana Purchase territory, and established the American claim to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Ambrose has pieced together previously unknown information about weather, terrain, and medical knowledge at the time to provide a colorful and realistic backdrop for the expedition. Lewis saw the North American continent before any other white man; Ambrose describes in detail native peoples, weather, landscape, science, everything the expedition encountered along the way, through Lewis's eyes. Lewis is supported by a rich variety of colorful characters, first of all Jefferson himself, whose interest in exploring and acquiring the American West went back thirty years. Next comes Clark, a rugged frontiersman whose love for Lewis matched Jefferson's.
Stats for nerds
6recommend
11mentions
10people
2009–2026years
55% recommend45% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Dungeon Crawler Carl book 7. Started the series in January. Most books I've read in a year since I read the Expanse series.
Historical books that are great... Empire of the Summer Moon, Undaunted Courage, Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates
- Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose is a great book about the expedition. I picked it up on a trip to the US and really enjoyed it.
One of my favourite things I didn't know was that they kept getting to new 'untouched' villages of Native Americans who would come out to trade and knew perfectly well that white people existed as they'd been visited for years by various fur traders.
- I highly recommend the book “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” by Stephen Ambrose. It truly brings the Lewis and Clark expedition to life. Of particular note for me was how much personal time Thomas Jefferson spent with Meriwhether Lewis in preparing him for the expedition. Jefferson spent so much time with Lewis that he was able to notice that Lewis had acquired his father’s depression but that Lewis did a good job of covering it up and not letting it interfere with his mission. There’s just so much fascinating history associated with the story. Kudos to these students for keeping this great American event achievement alive!
- I read these three books last year and I believe that each would be interesting to you:
Undaunted Courage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undaunted_Courage
This is about doing something extremely hard with a huge amount of unknowns, and the type of person it takes to succeed.
How Big Things Get Done https://www.amazon.com/How-Big-Things-Get-Done/dp/0593239512
This is about project planning and has plenty of real examples and case studies.
The Education of Cyrus by Xenophon https://www.thepsmiths.com/p/review-the-education-of-cyrus-b...
This is the best book on leadership and teamwork that I've ever read. You can read this review instead but get a copy of the actual book, too, it's wonderful.
- Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. The tale of Lewis and Clark as told largely from Lewis' journal from the journey.
- As usual for Ambrose, Undaunted Courage is a phenomenal read.
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