This vast enterprise : a new history of Lewis & Clark / Craig Fehrman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fehrman, Craig, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

West (U.S.)--Discovery and exploration.

West (U.S.).

United States--History--19th century.

United States.

Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809.

Lewis, Meriwether.

Clark, William, 1770-1838.

Clark, William.

Ordway, John, approximately 1775-.

Ordway, John.

Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806).

Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Explorers--United States.

Explorers.

Lakota Indians--History.

Lakota Indians.

Genre:

Biographies.

Informational works.

Endpapers

Physical Description:

xx, 515 pages, 32 pages of plates illustrations (some color), maps 25 cm

illustrations.

maps.

plates.

mixed color.

Edition:

First Avid Reader Press hardcover edition.

Other Title:

New history of Lewis & Clark

Place of Publication:

New York : Avid Reader Press, 2026.

Summary:

"In 1806, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return from their yearslong journey -- having led the Corps of Discovery across eight thousand miles of rapids, mountains, forests, and ravines -- they bring an incredible tale starring themselves as courageous explorers, skilled survivalists, underrated scientists, and peaceful ambassadors. While there is truth in those descriptions, there is also distortion. From one of the most exciting new historians to emerge in the past decade, This Vast Enterprise offers a bold and novel take on the expedition: a gripping narrative that draws on lost documents, stunning analysis, and Native perspectives. Craig Fehrman spent five years visiting more than thirty archives, interviewing more than a hundred sources, and collecting oral history passed down over centuries. He came to see that the success of Lewis and Clark depended on much more than just Lewis and Clark. We all know Sacajawea, and some of us know York, the Black man Clark enslaved. But This Vast Enterprise introduces us to John Ordway, a working-class soldier who fought fearsome grizzlies and towed the captains' hulking barge. It introduces us to Wolf Calf, a Blackfoot teenager who watched his friend die in a tense battle with Lewis and his men. To capture this cast of characters, each chapter in This Vast Enterprise moves to a different person's point of view, describing their desires and contradictions with an unprecedented level of care. One chapter shows Thomas Jefferson operating in an age of bitter partisan unrest--his secret political maneuvers to fund the expedition, revealed here for the first time, are a case study in presidential power. Another chapter shows the strategy and strength of Black Buffalo, completely upending our understanding of Lakota-American diplomacy. York, in his chapters, finds ways to wield power and make choices in an era that didn't allow him much of either. Clark is not a folksy Kentuckian but a student of the Enlightenment. (Fehrman discovered his college notebook; no previous biographer even realized that he went to college.) Lewis is someone willing to sacrifice everything for his country, his mission, and his mentor, Jefferson; in Fehrman's subtle yet heartbreaking analysis, Lewis's legendary strengths are inseparable from his lifelong weaknesses. In the end, the captains are men who needed help--from Sacajawea, from the Corps, and from each other. Mile after mile, the expedition pushes on through dramatic hailstorms and flash floods, life-threatening frostbite and infections, rattlesnakes and rabid wolves, with the Spanish cavalry in fierce pursuit. Fehrman bal­ances the story's inherent adventure with the humanity of its protagonists"-- Provided by publisher.

"A major revisionist history of the Lewis and Clark expedition: For the first time in a generation, This Vast Enterprise offers a fresh and more accurate account of one of the most important episodes in American history, humanizing forgotten figures and shattering long-held myths"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Prologue

Part I: Preparations. Meriwether Lewis

York

Thomas Jefferson

John Ordway

Part II: 1804 to 1805. William Clark

Black Buffalo

Sacajawea

Part III: 1805 to 1806. Meriwether Lewis

Coboway

Part IV: 1806 to 1807. Piahito

William Clark

Wolf Calf

Meriwether Lewis

Epilogue

Appendix I: Oral history versus written history : or, a newly discovered interview with Wolf Calf

Appendix II: Sex and the expedition.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 417-483) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Burt fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781982174248

1982174242

9781982174255

1982174250

OCLC:

1523196264