Why Sacagawea Deserves the Day Off and Other Lessons from the Lewis and Clark Trail (Bison Original) - Softcover

Tubbs, Stephenie Ambrose

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803215851 ISBN 13: 9780803215856

Publisher: Bison Books, 2008

Synopsis

More than two hundred years later, the “voyage of discovery”—with its outsized characters, geographic marvels, and wondrous moments of adventure and mystery—continues to draw us along the Lewis and Clark Trail. Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs first fell under the trail’s spell at sixteen and has been following in Lewis and Clark’s path ever since. In essays historical and personal, she revisits the Lewis and Clark Trail and its famous people, landmarks, and events, exploring questions the expedition continues to raise, such as, What really motivated Thomas Jefferson to send out his agents of discovery? What “mutinous expressions” were uttered? What happened to the dog? Why did Meriwether Lewis end his own life? In the resulting trip through history, Tubbs recounts her travels along the trail by foot, Volkswagen bus, and canoe—at every turn renewing the American experience inscribed by Lewis and Clark.

About this title

About the Author

Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs serves on the board of directors for the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center Foundation, the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, and the American Prairie Foundation. She is the coauthor of The Lewis and Clark Companion: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Voyage of Discovery.

Reviews

The bicentenary of Lewis and Clark's great expedition to the Pacific may have passed, but the public's fascination with the adventures of the Corps of Discovery will never dissipate. Tubbs (coauthor of The Lewis and Clark Companion: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Voyage of Discovery), daughter of the late historian Stephen Ambrose (the bestselling author of the Lewis and Clark biography Undaunted Courage), collects 11 pithy, amusing essays on a wide variety of topics related to the intrepid explorers. One of the most interesting is the analysis of what ailed Meriwether Lewis, a loner who committed suicide: Tubbs believes that he suffered from Asperger's syndrome, a form of highly functioning autism. But there is little connective tissue between the pieces, creating a disjointed effect. Some essays are historically oriented, others personal (Paddling into Bodmer is a narrative of a camping and boat trip, for instance), and one wonders whether a more intense focus on either the historical or the personal would have better served readers. Nevertheless, for Lewis and Clark aficionados this little volume should find a place on their bookshelves. (Oct. 21)
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Tubbs has spent parts of 27 years on the famous trail popularized by her father, Stephen E. Ambrose, in Undaunted Courage (1996). Now, as a mother, she is trying to make Lewis and Clark relevant to her sons. Aided by research into the diaries of that famous duo, she has gained insight into their personalities, including the fact that Lewis “rarely showed any compassion for the people he encountered on the way to the Pacific.” Lewis later took his own life, and she examines the possible reasons he might have done so, including his Asperger’s syndrome. She delves into how the complex relationships between white and Native cultures led to a series of misunderstandings, which is, according to most theories, where Sacagawea comes into play. Tubbs maintains that accounts of this Indian woman’s life have been in large part a combination of myth, legend, and fantasy and that she should be relieved of “the burden of being a national icon.” A candid and enlightening assessment of the landmark Corps of Discovery. --Deborah Donovan

Edition details

• Publisher: Bison Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803215851
• ISBN 13: 9780803215856
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144