Book Review of
Undaunted Courage
Lynn's Review
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose was published in 1996. It is nonfiction history. It is a book about the Oregon Trail, but it is really a book about the lives of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Undaunted Courage has been in my to be read stack for at least ten years. I wanted to read it, but I knew that I would have to be in the right mood.
I grew up in Oregon, not far from the end of the Oregon trail. I have family that still live in the area not far from where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean.
My childhood was full of Oregon history and Oregon Trail history. I have been to the the Lewis and Clark National Park near Astoria, Oregon many times.
I knew a lot about the Oregon Trail, or at least I thought I knew a lot. After reading Undaunted Courage I learned how little I really knew about the Oregon Trail.
My Oregon Trail knowledge was pretty limited to the Oregon part of the Oregon Trail. But the Oregon Trail was far more than Oregon. Yes, Oregon, the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean were the end goal, but they traveled over a huge part of the country in order to get to the Pacific Ocean.
I was afraid that Undaunted Courage would be boring, because many historical type books are a bit dry and boring. It was far from boring. I picked this up thinking it might be a slow read that took me months to finish. Instead, I read it in just a few weeks.
Undaunted Courage is about the Oregon Trail, but it really is more of a biography of Meriwether Lewis. It is about his life before, during, and after the Oregon Trail.
Lewis and Clark were brave explorers not afraid of the unknown land that lay before them. They took on a task that not many would.
The faced the unknown. They took on wild weather, uncontrollable circumstances, a lack of food, and so much more.
The faced Native American tribes that they had never met and could not communicate with.
Lewis and Clark were not perfect. They did not always make the best decisions, but America would not be made what it is without the Oregon Trail, Lewis and Clark, and the determination of Thomas Jefferson to send explorers west.
If you want to learn more about the Oregon Trail and the men that took on the task of exploring the west, I think that you will enjoy Undaunted Courage.