Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. 1996. New York: Touchstone, 1997.
Undaunted Courage is a biography of Meriwether Lewis. It is also, to a large extent, an account of Lewis’ expedition, co-led by William Clark, up the Missouri River, across the Rocky Mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Coast and back again.
The Lewis and Clark expedition, the bicentennial of which was celebrated in 2004 through 2006, is rightly presented as the centerpiece of Lewis’ life. Ambrose shows how Lewis’ early life in the plantations and wilderness of Virginia, as a militia officer during the Whiskey Rebellion and under the political tutelage of Thomas Jefferson uniquely prepared Lewis to lead a company of explorer-soldiers with a broad mission. His life after the expedition was brief and troubled.
The western exploration, beginning in 1804 and ending in 1806, is the major focus of the narrative. It was more than simply a trip. Lewis and Clark were charged with scientific observation (particularly geography, botany and zoology), Indian diplomacy, establishing trade, and what might be considered a touch of espionage. With the exception of Indian policy, Lewis, Clark and their men performed admirably.
Lewis, throughout the mission and afterward, wanted to make it clear that he and Clark had equal parts in the leadership of the expedition. It is extraordinary that this worked so well. One gets the impression for the book that Lewis was the senior of these equals, which may explain it. Even so, Lewis seemed to prefer the close companionship of trusted peers and friends.
Lewis achieved great success while still relatively young, in his early thirties. Early success can be tough, but Lewis seems like a man who can handle tough situations. However, his few years of life after the expedition seem to be characterized by failure. Certainly, the political situation in the Louisiana Territory, where Lewis was appointed governor, was very difficult, and he may not have been cut out to be a politician and bureaucrat. However, he left important matters that were easily within his grasp undone. Notably, he never published the expedition journals, which more than anything else may have sealed his fame, supported his policies and multiplied the fruit of his exceptional labor.
The final years of Lewis’ life, which ended in suicide, raises many unanswered, and possibly unanswerable, questions. Even so, Ambrose’s biography of the man is an interesting story, and sometime and exciting tale of his great adventure.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Meriwether Lewis. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Meriwether Lewis. Sort by date Show all posts
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Saturday, October 10, 2009
What I Read (12)
Date: June 10, 2008
Title: The Great Divorce
Author: C. S. Lewis
Thoughts: “What concerns you in the nature is the nature of choice itself: and that ye can watch them making” (quote from the book).
Date: July 2, 2008
Title: The Gospel of Luke
Thoughts: “Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. And you are witnesses to these things” (Luke 24:46-48).
Date: July 12, 2008
Title: Walking with God
Author: John Eldredge
Thoughts: “The reason we are morally obligated to be happy is that people have to live with us” (quote from the book).
John Eldredge also wrote Epic.
Date: July 27, 2008
Title: Undaunted Courage
Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Thoughts: How could someone as extraordinary as Meriwether Lewis come to such a sad end?
Date: August 2, 2008
Title: One Small step Can Change Your Life
Author: Robert Maurer
Thoughts: “To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization” (quote from the book).
Date: August 3, 2008
Title: Red Harvest
Author: Dashiell Hammett
Thoughts: More crime than you can shake a stick at.
Date: September 28, 2008
Title: Book of Lies
Author: Brad Meltzer
Thoughts: Thrillers aren’t my thing, but this book was okay. I read it mainly because of the Jerry Siegel/Superman connection.
Date: October 21, 2008
Title: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization
Author: Anthony Esolen
Thoughts: A look at the good and the bad from ancient Greece to today and how we’ve forgotten so much of the good and embraced so much of the bad. The book is a call to let history be a corrective to the excesses of modern society.
Other parts of What I Read:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,
Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,
Part 11
Title: The Great Divorce
Author: C. S. Lewis
Thoughts: “What concerns you in the nature is the nature of choice itself: and that ye can watch them making” (quote from the book).
Date: July 2, 2008
Title: The Gospel of Luke
Thoughts: “Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. And you are witnesses to these things” (Luke 24:46-48).
Date: July 12, 2008
Title: Walking with God
Author: John Eldredge
Thoughts: “The reason we are morally obligated to be happy is that people have to live with us” (quote from the book).
John Eldredge also wrote Epic.
Date: July 27, 2008
Title: Undaunted Courage
Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Thoughts: How could someone as extraordinary as Meriwether Lewis come to such a sad end?
Date: August 2, 2008
Title: One Small step Can Change Your Life
Author: Robert Maurer
Thoughts: “To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization” (quote from the book).
Date: August 3, 2008
Title: Red Harvest
Author: Dashiell Hammett
Thoughts: More crime than you can shake a stick at.
Date: September 28, 2008
Title: Book of Lies
Author: Brad Meltzer
Thoughts: Thrillers aren’t my thing, but this book was okay. I read it mainly because of the Jerry Siegel/Superman connection.
Date: October 21, 2008
Title: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization
Author: Anthony Esolen
Thoughts: A look at the good and the bad from ancient Greece to today and how we’ve forgotten so much of the good and embraced so much of the bad. The book is a call to let history be a corrective to the excesses of modern society.
Other parts of What I Read:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,
Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,
Part 11
Friday, December 21, 2012
STEM Books
I’ve reviewed 39 STEM-related
books (and counting). STEM is an acronym
for science,
technology,
engineering, and mathematics. As you may have seen in the news, there is a
push to improve STEM education,
interest students in STEM fields, and grow the number of workers
in these fields. The idea is that these
will be the skills needed by workers of the future. If you’re a STEM educator or a student
considering a career in STEM fields, you might like to take a look at some of
these books.
I’ll confess that I’m not an educator, but I think most of these books
will be accessible to high school and college students, and a few to middle
school students. The list is also a
reflection of my career and interests in engineering, public
health, policy,
and history. Even with these biases, I think it is a good
list for someone looking for STEM-related books.
I was fascinated by robots as a
kid. I enjoyed reading Isaac Asimov’s
robot stories. I longed for the Omnibot
2000 in the Sears Wishbook.
Robots have come a long way. In How to Build an Android, David F. Dufty
describes the short strange life of a very complex robot made to look and talk
like science
fiction author Philip K.
Dick. The robot had a very
sophisticated and lifelike head and complex artificial
intelligence. As with most complex
things, it was the work of many people who had to solve a lot of problems.
If you’re interested in robotics, this is an interesting nontechnical
book. In addition, you’ll get introduced
to some freaky sci-fi. You may even get
as (somewhat) legitimate reason to use the word “Dickhead” (capitalized, it
refers to a fan of PKD, so don’t go using it on anyone).
The Interstate
highway
system in the United States
is one of the most enormous structures built.
Some of the prospective STEM students who read this may actually be
younger than the Intestate system, though in some sense it is never complete
because it needs constant repair and maintenance. The Interstates were completed in the 1990s, but the Federal-Aid
Highways go back to 1916.
Earl
Swift wrote an accessible history of the Interstates in The Big Roads. If you interested in automobiles
or transportation,
it’s a good read.
Deborah
Cadbury describes seven wonders of engineering in Dreams of Iron and Steel. It covers almost a century of history, but
many of the events are concentrated in the Victorian Era. That was a time of great technological
innovation.
Though the book is history, many of the structures still stand. Railways, the Brooklyn
Bridge, the Suez
and Panama
Canals, and Hoover
Dam stand testament to an age of big engineering.
Though the memory of Professor Wragg’s sneer prompts me to not make
this confession, part of my interest in science and technology came from comic
books. Iron Man was
cool. Spider-Man’s
web shooters were very cool. Superhero
comics are full of fantasy,
admittedly, but the strange, unrealistic science and technology they depict
have inspired many to study STEM in reality.
Physicist John
Kakalios uses examples from comic books to explore real physics in The Physics of Supeheroes. Sometimes comics get there science
right. Even when they get it wrong, it
can be instructive. If you know what
people are talking about when they refer to the “New 52,” you may find this
book to be a great introduction to physics.
Here is another confession: I’m not especially interested in math. I endured a lot of math classes to study
engineering. Reading David
Acheson’s 1089 and All That did
not require such endurance. For one
reason, it is a short book. For another,
Acheson doesn’t expect his readers to be mathematicians; it is enough to follow
the outline of the math he discusses.
I recommend this book because so many people have a fear of math. 1089
can be followed by many high school students and older folks with math
phobias. Just take a deep breath, relax,
and follow along as well as you can.
You’ll see that math can be interesting, useful, and even beautiful in a
way.
Judith
St. George’s The Brooklyn Bridge is a short history of and iconic bridge. Written for the
bridge’s 100th anniversary, it is also the story of the engineers
who sacrificed life and health to see it completed: John Roebling and his son Washington. John Roebling was
a German immigrant who built many suspension
bridges and owed a wire-making business. He gave his son
and extraordinary education in bridge engineering for the time, and before
beginning work on the Brooklyn Bridge he served as an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Why should a cutting-edge STEM student read about a
bridge that is almost 130 years old? It’s
because we still use and rely on very successful, centuries old technologies. Improving and rebuilding our infrastructure will be an important part of our economy. As recently as 2010, New York City and the federal government committed $500 million to
repair and repaint the Brooklyn Bridge.
STEM lumps together science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics. Is there a difference
between science and engineering? Is it
important?
Henry
Petroski, a professor of civil
engineering and history and author of The Essential Engineer, believes
there is an important difference. At
heart, science is about increasing knowledge. Engineering is about invention. Of course, new knowledge makes new invention
possible. Just as often, though,
engineering runs ahead of science.
Sometimes science didn’t advance until someone invented the instruments
to conduct new observations and experiments.
The invention of the microscope
made possible the science of microbiology. Steam engines
were built and greatly improved before we had a modern scientific understanding
of thermodynamics. In fact, thermodynamics was to a large extent
born out of desire to understand steam engines. In this sense, it is an
engineering science (study of manmade things) as much as a natural science
(study of natural things) or branch of physics.
Petroski’s focus in the book is the importance of engineering to
policymaking, where it is often overshadowed by science. Policy, science, and engineering play off of
each other a lot. Most of my career as
an engineer has been related to government, policy, and regulatory compliance.
The Ghost Map by science writer Steven
Johnson is the story of the birth of epidemiology. Epidemiology is a medical
science that uses statistics to
help us understand how diseases operate in a population. Using various statistical and geographic
tools, long before we had computers and GIS, physician
John Snow
demonstrated that cholera,
once a recurring plague
that wiped out hundreds of thousands of people in some outbreaks, was a waterborne
disease. This understanding,
initially met with much skepticism, allowed officials to intervene to prevent
the spread of the disease. For those who
say of their math classes, “I’ll never us this,” here is a case where math (and
science and policy) were used to make a great difference.
It is not much publicized today that the Lewis
and Clark
expedition of 1804
to 1806 had a
partly scientific mission. Captains
Lewis and Clark were charges with bringing back samples of the flora, fauna, and culture of the
western territories. It was also hoped
that they would find a water
passage to the Pacific Ocean. In Undaunted Courage, Stephen Ambrose
writes about the scientific mission as well as the policy, diplomacy, and
commercial
hopes the expedition carried.
Of course, what attracts most people to the Lewis and Clark expedition
is that it was a great adventure. There is a place in STEM fields for thoughtful
adventurers and explorers.
A list like this deserves something strange, creepy, and more fun than you care to
admit. Right now, thousands of very
young future STEM workers are catching bugs and snakes, breaking
their toys to see
what is inside, or staring into space with a weird expression
of vacancy and concentration.
Jan
Bondeson’s Buried Alive is not a
morbid book. It is sometimes humorous,
especially in consideration of topic.
From a STEM point of view, Bondeson shows how knowledge accumulates over
time. The fears and activities of our
forefathers may seem strange to us, but they sometimes made sense in light of
what they knew. Buried Alive doesn’t simply play off our fascination with the grotesque and death, though the
book might not have been written if we lacked that fascination, I think it
reminds us to approach our ancestors with a touch of grace and humility. Maybe our progeny will show us the same courtesy.
If you’re looking for something for a younger student, check out this post→
from Joanne
Loves Science or these
recommendations→ from STEM
Friday. By the way, I also write
about engineering, infrastructure and the environment at Infrastructure Watch.
Google
Sunday, July 10, 2016
The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley
In 1905,
then Secretary of War William Taft
and a host of other American
dignitaries took a tour of Pacific islands
and Asian
nations. James
Bradley tells the story of this trip, along with the wider contest of President Theodore
Roosevelt’s policies toward Pacific expansion and Asia, in The Imperial Cruise.
Roosevelt, with Taft as his right hand, engaged in secret diplomacy with
Japan. The
Senate would not have approved a treaty with Japan with terms Roosevelt wanted,
and his own State Department would have strongly advised against his course. So
Roosevelt sent Taft to consummate a secret deal that he could never
acknowledge.
By the time Taft set sail, Japan was already responding to interactions
with the West. It was remaking itself into an industrialized, militarized country
in the western mold. Roosevelt saw in them American-friendly, quasi-civilized
people who could expand Anglo-Saxon virtues into Asia without slipping out from
under Anglo-American influence. As with almost everything related to the
Pacific and Asian peoples, Roosevelt was very shortsighted.
In reading about the early 20th
Century, I’ve been struck by the pervasiveness of racism. Bradley
explains how Roosevelt viewed everything through a racial lens. These were
racial lenses were proudly worn by white elites at the time. The key to history
was racial history. They saw the birth of civilization in the Middle East
with the Aryans, who began moving west. Around the Mediterranean,
where the Aryans mixed with other races, civilizations degenerated. In Germany, pure
Aryans gave rise to Teutons, who inherited Aryan civilizing with values of democracy and
individualism. These Teutons moved west and were further perfected in the
Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxon civilization leapt across the Atlantic and push aside
the savages of North America.
To Roosevelt, Manifest Destiny had not closed with the conquering of the
continent; it was ready to spread into the Pacific. White men would continue to
spread their civilizing influence, subjugating or exterminating lesser, browner
races when necessary as white Americans had done to their Indian
wards. White elites like Roosevelt saw their westward destiny in this racial
history, and it was further confirm by science in Darwinian
survival of the fittest.
History
and science
refute such notions now. Bradley (and I) certainly don’t try to justify the
attitudes or actions of Roosevelt, Taft or others. Bradley is plainly critical
of handling of Pacific islands and Asia. Roosevelt’s racial views blinded him
to the abilities and patriotism of non-whites. He had the hubris to pursue
diplomacy on his own, secretly, without advice from the State Department,
Senate or anyone else who might raise the slightest objection or concern. He
tutored Japan in the ways of western imperialism, but could not imagine how
well they would learn the lessons. Bradley places at least some of the blame
for World
War II in the Pacific at the feet of Roosevelt, whose interventions created
the powerful military
empire we faced in those waters.
Roosevelt was an astute manager of his image and he understood public
relations. Because of this, he sent his oldest (and nearly estranged) daughter Alice on
the trip. She was a celebrity, and her presence assured a lot of press
coverage. Her presence was also a distraction from Taft’s secret mission.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Bradley, James. The Imperial
Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War. New York: Little,
Brown and Company, 2009.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
300 Books Reviewed on Keenan’s Book Reviews
I’ve
posted reviews of 300 books on this blog. It’s hard to believe. Here are links to the 50 most recent posts.
Further down are links to more reviews.
First
Time Reviews
Additional
and Expanded Reviews
Continuation
of list of 250 books reviewed
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