The Only True America: Following the Trail of Lewis and Clark

Probing the Journals of Lewis and Clark far more closely than other works, the book develops the understanding that these Enlightenment gentlemen from Virginia gradually entered the unfamiliar world of the West and Native American animism and magic, and they responded differently. Clark adapted and learned from the Indians, whereas Lewis resisted them as "savages." Clark returned after having envisioned a "landscape of hope" and lives a long life of service to native tribes. Lewis saw a "la...