The Lewis and Clark journals : an American epic of discovery

Two centuries ago, an American epic unfolded as Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery mapped the lands, described the natural wonders, and encountered the peoples of western North America.

Following orders from President Thomas Jefferson, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out from Saint Louis in 1804 to search for a river passage to the Pacific Ocean.

In their own words, recorded in the famous journals of Lewis and Clark, the members of the Corps of Discovery tell their story with an immediacy and power missing from second-hand accounts.

All their triumphs and terrors are here - the thrill of seeing the vast herds of bison on the plains, the tensions and admiration in the first meetings with Indian peoples, Lewis's rapture at the stunning beauty of the Great Falls, the fear the captains felt when a devastating illness befell Shoshone interpreter Sacagawea, the ordeal of crossing the Continental Divide, Clark's joy at seeing the Pacific, miserable days of cold and hunger, and the kidnapping and rescue of Lewis's dog, Seaman.

The natural wonders of an unspoiled America are captured in these pages. The lives and customs of its Native peoples also come vividly to life: Lewis and Clark's friendship with the Mandans and the Nez Perces, a deadly fight with the Blackfeet, and a series of intricate interactions and negotiations with numerous northwestern tribes.

The cultural differences between the corps and the Indians make for living drama that is sometimes comic but more often poignant and, at least once, tragic.

In this riveting account, editor Gary E. Moulton blends the narrative highlights of his definitive Nebraska edition of the "Lewis and Clark" journals.

For the first time, the voices of the enlisted men and of the Native Americans are heard alongside the words of the captains.

New maps and illustrations enrich this American epic of discovery.

Gary E. Moulton is Thomas C. Sorensen Professor of American History at the University of Nebraska.

He is the recipient of the J. Franklin Jameson Award of the American Historical Association for the editing of the "Lewis and Clark" journals, and he won the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award from the University of Nebraska.