Lewis & Clark
Subtitle: an illustrated history
By: by Dayton Duncan, based on a documentary film by Ken Burns ... ; preface by Ken Burns and contributions by Stephen E. Ambrose, Erica Funkhouser, William Least Heat-Moon.
Contributors: Burns, Ken, 1953-; Heat Moon, William Least.; Ambrose, Stephen E.; Funkhouser, Erica.
Edition: [1st ed.]
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 248
Subjects: Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809; Clark, William, 1770-1838; West (U.S.) -- Discovery and exploration
Other titles: Journey of the Corps of Discovery.; Lewis & Clark :; Lewis and Clark.; Lewis & Clark : the journey of the Corps of Discovery (Television series)
Description: In the spring of 1804, at the behest of President Thomas Jefferson, a party of explorers called the Corps of Discovery crossed the Mississippi River and started up the Missouri, heading west into the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.

The expedition, led by two remarkable and utterly different commanders - the brilliant but troubled Meriwether Lewis and his trustworthy, gregarious friend William Clark - was to be the United States' first exploration into unknown spaces.

The unlikely crew came from every corner of the young nation: soldiers from New Hampshire and Pennsylvania and Kentucky, French Canadian boatmen, several sons of white fathers and Indian mothers, a slave named York, and eventually a Shoshone Indian woman, Sacagawea, who brought along her infant son.

Plentiful excerpts from the journals kept by the two captains and four enlisted men convey the raw emotions, turbulent spirits, and constant surprises of the explorers, who each day confronted the unknown with fresh eyes. An elegant preface by Ken Burns, as well as contributions from Stephen E. Ambrose, William Least Heat-Moon, and Erica Funkhouser, enlarge upon important threads in Duncan's narrative, demonstrating the continued potency of events that took place almost two centuries ago.

And a wealth of paintings, photographs, journal sketches, maps, and film images from the PBS documentary lends this historic, nation-redefining milestone a vibrancy and immediacy to which no American will be immune.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 238-[239]) and index.
Companion volume to the PBS TV series: Lewis & Clark: the journey of the Corps of Discovery.
Table of contents: title: Preface: Come up me / Ken Burns; title: Introduction; title: Look forward to distant times; title: Floyd's bluff; title: Land of plenty; title: Children; title: Vision quest / William Least Heat-Moon; title: Perfect harmony; title: Scenes of visionary enchantment; title: Most distant fountain of the mighty Missouri; title: Friends / Stephen E. Ambrose; title: Hungry Creek; title: O! The Joy; title: Wet and disagreeable; title: Finding Sacagawea / Erica Funkhouser; title: See our parents once more; title: Done for posterity; title: We proceeded on / D. Duncan.