Top 10 Books About the Lewis & Clark Expedition

1. Across the Continent

Douglas Seefeldt (Editor) University of Virginia Press. From the publisher: "An obscure undertaking in its own time, the Lewis and Clark expedition has grown in the American imagination, acquiring an almost mythic stature. Arriving as the country commemorates the expedition’s bicentennial, 'Across the Continent' is not an exercise in demythologizing; rather, it is an examination of the explorers’ world and the complicated ways in which it relates to our own."

2. The Essential Lewis and Clark

by Landon Y. Jones. HarperCollins. From the publisher: "Here is a concise, breathtaking record of Lewis and Clark's legendary journey to the Pacific, written by the two captains—under unspeakable stress and the threat of constant danger—with an immediacy that startles to this day. Through these tales of adventure we see the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains and western rivers the way Lewis and Clark first observed them—majestic, pristine, uncharted, and awe-inspiring."

3. The Journals of Lewis and Clark

by Bernard DeVoto (Editor). Houghton Mifflin Company. From the publisher: "Together the captains kept a journal, a richly detailed record of the flora and fauna they sighted, the Indian tribes they encountered, and the awe-inspiring landscape they traversed, from their base camp near present-day St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River. In keeping this record they made an incomparable contribution to the literature of exploration and the writing of natural history."

4. The Lewis and Clark Companion: An Encyclopedia Guide to the Voyage of Discovery

by Stephanie Ambrose Tubbs. Henry Holt & Company. From the publisher: "Written by two highly regarded Lewis and Clark experts, this book contains more than five hundred lively and fascinating entries on everything... Highly readable and informative, it's both the perfect introduction to the Lewis and Clark adventure and the comprehensive guide no serious enthusiast will want to be without."

5. Undaunted Courage

by Stephen E. Ambrose. Simon & Schuster. From the publisher: "High adventure, high politics, suspense, drama, and diplomacy combine with high romance and personal tragedy to make this outstanding work of scholarship as readable as a novel."

6. Encyclopedia of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

by Elin Woodger, and Brandon Toropov. Facts on File. From the publisher: "Containing more than 360 informative A-to-Z entries, as well as an extensive chronology with mileage markers, an introductory essay, lists of sources for further reading following each entry, a bibliography, a subject index, a general index, 20 maps, and 116 black-and-white photographs, this must-have reference details a fascinating and important event..."

7. Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide

by Carolyn Gilman. Smithsonian Institution Press. From the publisher: "Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide expands and transforms this familiar story by exploring the social and cultural landscapes the expedition traversed. Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide also follows the explorers' steps by reconstructing the richly physical worlds of the expeditions."

8. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with Related Documents, 1783–1854

by Donald Jackson (Editor). University of Illinois Press. From the publisher: "This beautiful two-volume, boxed set covers all aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from its authorization and planning through Meriwether Lewis's violent death. A cornerstone of any library emphasizing the American West, Donald Jackson's splendid edition assembles letters, memoranda, and other documents of the expedition, providing detailed commentary and notes."

9. The Adventures of Lewis and Clark

by John Bakeless. Dover. From the publisher: "Exciting, action-packed account of the expedition to chart the vast unknown lands of the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. A perilous journey made by undaunted men who faced hostile Indians, prairie fires, floods, heat and thirst, illness, famine, sub-zero weather, and other perils."

10. The Fate of the Corps: What Became of the Lewis and Clark Explorers

by Larry E. Morris. Yale University Press. From the publisher: "Engagingly written and based on exhaustive research, The Fate of the Corps chronicles the lives of the fascinating men (and one woman) who opened the American West."