'An Analysis Of Undaunted Courage'

Undaunted Courage is a very detailed and descriptive story with both interesting and slow moving parts. The book portrays the point of view of Meriwether Lewis and his diary entries from early childhood to his expedition of the western United States. The book would be considered more of a resource to a research paper on the expedition of Lewis himself. Not many people would pick this book unless they enjoy the details of the western exploration or the personal thoughts of Meriwether Lewis before his departure and during the exploration. Undaunted courage can be considered “new” because the book is portrayed in the eyes of Meriwether Lewis. Most stories written about the exploration do not describe the preparation they had to make for the trip or how they got their supplies. Also, most books do not

I believe the book was heavy on primary sources causing the book to be slow moving and feels to drag on. I believe there should have been more secondary sources to give the reader more of an idea on how other people thought of the expedition and decisions Lewis made along the way. Part of me believes, though that if you add too many secondary source the book becomes less factual and more opinionated, which is not the motive of this story. This story was written to give the informational life of Lewis and his squads on their journey to the Pacific coast not to tell the reader what everyone else thought. Ambrose used direct quotes throughout the book very frequently, which made it feel more realistic as though you were truly there. With using the direct quotes it aloud the reader to have a wonderful imagery of the American West as some of the first explorers walked on the new territory. The sources Ambrose uses makes the book feel as though you are in the mind of Lewis each day of the exploration. He uses some secondary sources, but constantly stays with primary sources to keep the book as factual as