Jefferson's West: A Journey with Lewis and Clark

by James P. Ronda, Robert M. Utley (Preface)

From his offices in Washington, D.C. and at Monticello, President Thomas Jefferson envisioned the unknown American West and devised an expedition to explore it, one that nearly two hundred years later still ranks as one of the most gripping adventures in our history. From a modern vantage point, however, it is hard to grasp how little Jefferson and his chosen explorers actually knew about the West. James Ronda makes clear the West imagined by Jefferson and the scientists of his day --one with garden-like plains, low mountains, and easily navigable rivers, bearing the promise of the fabled Northwest Passage to the Pacific. Of course, the terrain encountered by Lewis and Clark was wider, taller, infinitely less navigable, and exponentially more rugged than Jefferson could have imagined. Using the letters of Jefferson and the journals of Lewis and Clark, Ronda takes readers on a dual journey exploring the drama of the expedition from the perspectives of Jefferson in the East and Lewis and Clark out West. Added to this conflicting scheme is the presence of the Native Americans encountered by Lewis and Clark, whose world and perspective could not be understood in either Jefferson's vision for the trip or in Lewis and Clark's understanding of their voyage.

80 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2002

Reviews

[Brook Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

James P. Ronda is considered one of America's foremost scholars on the history of Lewis and Clark. Therefore, I looked forward to this book. As full of thoughtful insight as it was, it was not an easy read. To really appreciate it, one needs a lot of interest in both Jefferson and the Corps of Discovery.

I still found it thought-provoking and extremely well-researched, as I'd imagined. It was more "essay" in style and presentation, so readers must understand that the purpose of this read was to ponder Jefferson's vision for the west. It was not written as a complete history of Lewis & Clark, nor does it present their journey in great detail, which I found a little disconcerting, given the title.

Still, if you wish to study 18th century rational behind Jefferson's rather idealistic view of American expansion, this book will certain be eye-opening.

[Max Bye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming in at just under 100 pages, this feels less like a full book and more like a pamphlet, though it still packs in a remarkable amount of information. It serves as a very accessible and comprehensive introduction to the Lewis and Clark expedition, while clearly highlighting that they were far from the first to venture west. It also does a good job of showing the egotistical way Americans treated Indigenous peoples, Jefferson’s stubborn fixation on finding a waterway to the Pacific, and how mistaken he was in imagining the western landscape from Monticello. The final pages, in particular, offer a striking illustration of just how wrong those assumptions were.More detail on how these misconceptions arose, and a deeper focus on Lewis and Clark’s journals rather than Jefferson’s relative inaction, would have been welcome, but it remains a worthwhile read.