Wilderness Journey: The Life of William Clark (MISSOURI BIOGRAPHY SERIES)
Long lacking a modern biography, Clark is suddenly benefiting from the Lewis and Clark bicentennial. Along with Landon Y. Jones (William Clark and the Shaping of the West[BKL Ap 1 04]), Foley rectifies the oversight and reflects on Clark's papers, which are ordinarily mined for more general frontier histories. Foley renders a complete, tangible picture, from the domestic details of Clark's household to the wider historical stage of American expansion and settlement. Dealing with Native Americans in war (he fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1795) and in peace (he negotiated dozens of treaties), Clark was the central American official at St. Louis brokering the relentless pressure on the tribes of the trans-Mississippi territories. Foley appraises Clark as ably diplomatic and comparatively humane in the context of the times but is not so flexible when considering Clark's slaveholding and particularly his treatment of York, whom he famously took on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Meticulous and encyclopedic, Foley's biography will be a must purchase for Lewis and Clark collections.Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.