Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier Paperback – 11 August 2016

Vividly written review about a real life adventure through wild America.

Stephen E. Ambrose è noto soprattutto per i suoi saggi sulla II Guerra Mondiale, per cui è stata per me una sorpresa imbattermi per caso in un suo testo sulla spedizione di Lewis e Clark.Cercavo un testo completo ed esauriente sull'argomento, e questo testo ha pienamente soddisfatto le mie aspettative: esso è in realtà una biografia di Meriwether Lewis ma, considerato il fatto che la spedizione costituì il più grande compimento della sua vita e la morte sopravvenuta poco dopo, si traduce per il 70% nel racconto della spedizione stessa.Il testo presenta alcune interessanti digressioni sulla figura di Thomas Jefferson (tra i padri fondatori della nazione americana ma la cui importanza è pressoché ignota al lettore italiano) e sul suo significato per la fondazione degli Stati Uniti come sono oggi.Il racconto è avvincente ed estremamente completo, scritto in un inglese semplice e con un piglio divulgativo.Ovviamente lo consiglierei a coloro che sono interessati all'argomento in sé: chi non cercasse una monografia sulla spedizione ma qualcosa di più ampio sulla Frontiera di inizio '800 rimarrebbe in parte deluso.

The western half of the United States in 1800 was a vast unknown land so President Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition to find a way from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean and to describe the country and peoples that he found in that huge blank on the map.On 22 May 1804 Lewis, his partner William Clark and their expedition set out from St Louis, Missouri and after a momentous journey across the great plains and over the Rocky Mountains he camped beside the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River on 10 November 1805.Stephen Ambrose in his sweeping account of the journey of the first white Americans to cross the unknown part of the continent brings the events vividly to life and when reading his account I tried to imagine what the country was like before white Americans settled there and built their towns, cities, railways and roads. Reading the original words of Lewis's diaries can be quite difficult because of the way he uses language so Ambrose performs a valuable service for us by putting into modern language Lewis's words. Clearly this is a labour of love for Ambrose who has himself followed in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark and he tells the story of the jouirney in such a way as to make it difficult for you to put the book down once you have started reading it.It is a terrific book and I thoroughly recommend it to everyone and as someone who has seen for himself some years ago the magnificent country that the expedition crossed I think Ambrose has told the story in a way that is truly memorable and enjoyable.

this is a great book about an important part of the history of the US, but it is more than that, it is a book on leadership because it narrates the motivations, courage and determination of a group of individuals to achieve a goal that, at the time, seemed unachiaveable.Excellent prose. I do recommend this book

Great captivating book with accurate history. It should be required reading to become a citizen.....with a test.