They called themselves the Corps of Discovery, yet they would fail to discover the primary object of their mission - the Northwest Passage - a mythical all-river route through the mountains. Instead, their real discovery would be the land itself - and the promises it held.
This magnificent book is illustrated with the full spectrum of animals, plants, landscapes, people and entire cultures which had never previously been seen by 'civilised' men. It also draws on the journals kept by Lewis and Clark and by others in the Corps. There are loving descriptions of the Western landscape; complaints about gnats, prickly pears and mosquitoes; reports of their encounters with Indians and intense lonely accounts of hunger, numbing cold, loneliness, excitement; and much more.
Here is all the adventure, hardship and triumph of an astonishing expedition which re-defined a nation.
