Summary
On May 14, 1804, Capt. Meriwether Lewis and 2nd Lt. William Clark led a "Corps of Discovery" comprising just over 40 members west from Camp Dubois, Ill., and into American mythology. The story of Lewis and Clark learned by U.S. schoolchildren during the past two centuries is built on assumptions and beliefs so ingrained they are invisible. Generations have learned that Lewis and Clark explored territory purchased from France, traveled into unknown lands, and met Indians unfamiliar with white people.
Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), edited by Alvin M. Josephy Jr., is a retelling of the familiar tale by ten Native American writers. This entertaining volume doesn't quite turn the conventional view of Lewis and Clark's accomplishment on its head, but it does skew it a bit.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Tedious March West
"Since traditionally historians have understood the journey as the first effort by civilized men to pierce the unknown West, we often tend to clothe the accounts of Lewis and Clark in more heroic terms than they seem to have de...
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