ebooks Exploring Lewis and Clark: Reflections on Men and Wilderness by Thomas P. Slaughter in History

Review

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Read after Journals and AmbroseBy A CustomerThis may be a good book to read after you've read the Journals and Ambrose's book Undaunted Courage.The title Exploring Lewis and Clark: Reflections on Men and Wilderness is apt. This books reads more like eight long essay with footnotes.Slaughter compares Lewis and Clark values and views with that of the Indians they encountered. He considers the difference between dream states (natives) and rational scientific explanations (LC) for the phenomena they experienced.One chapter looks at the role of Sacajawea and deeply explores the two versions of her death. Another chapter looks at York and his role in the expedition and what happened between York and Clark afterwards.This book is essentially an interpretation of the journals; as 90 % of his citations are from the journals themselves.The tone is often sarcastic and critical and even tries to be cute. I found myself challenging and disagreeing with many of Slaughter's assertions.The chapter on hunting was fascinating. It describes the Native view of hunting versus Lewis and Clark's view of killing.Here and there I found things to think about in this book and different ways of looking at episodes of the expedition already much documented. If you are a fan of the expedition; you should find some provocative ideas here; and it is worth wading through the mire to reach them.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy FlorinGood book very surprising1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Fast and loose with opinions.By Eric B. BorgmanI like books on history; however; this book seems to bypass history in places. The first two chapters were unreadable and I skipped them. I did find some of what Slaughter wrote regarding the re-writes and editing of the journals interesting as well as the stories regarding the Indian woman and the slave York who also made the trip; but all-in-all the book is made up of a lot of the author's own opinions and some ridiculous conclusions he makes. I can only assume it is because Slaughter was a college professor when writing this book that he made so many silly claims in this book. We all know how so maany professors play fast and loose with the truth.