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OverviewIn America's early national period, Meriwether Lewis was a towering figure. Selected by Thomas Jefferson to lead the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase, he was later rewarded by Jefferson with the governorship of the entire Louisiana Territory. Yet within three years, plagued by controversy over administrative expenses, Lewis found his reputation and career in tatters. En route to Washington to clear his name, he died mysteriously in a crude cabin on the Natchez Trace in Tennessee. Was he a suicide, felled by his own alcoholism and mental instability? Most historians have agreed. Patricia Tyson Stroud reads the evidence to posit another, even darker, ending for Lewis. Stroud uses Lewis's find, the bitterroot flower, with its nauseously pungent root, as a symbol for his reputation as a purported suicide. It was this reputation that Thomas Jefferson promulgated in the memoir he wrote prefacing the short account of Lewis's historic expedition published five years after his death. Without investigation of any kind, Jefferson, Lewis's mentor from boyhood, reiterated undocumented assertions of Lewis's serious depression and alcoholism. That Lewis was the courageous leader of the first expedition to explore the continent from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean has been overshadowed by presuppositions about the nature of his death. Stroud peels away the layers of misinformation and gossip that have obscured Lewis's rightful reputation. Through a retelling of his life, from his resourceful youth to the brilliance of his leadership and accomplishments as a man, Bitterroot shows that Jefferson's mystifying assertion about the death of his protege is the long-held bitter root of the Meriwether Lewis story. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Patricia Tyson StroudPublisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press ISBN: 9780812249842ISBN 10: 0812249844 Pages: 392 Publication Date: 20 April 2018 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Tertiary & Higher Education , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of Contents"Author's Note Introduction Chapter 1. An Unexpected Proposal Chapter 2. Early Life Chapter 3. The Threat of War Chapter 4. Jefferson's Choice Chapter 5. Cocaptain Chapter 6. Doctrine of Discovery Chapter 7. Under Way Chapter 8. The Teton Sioux Chapter 9. Fort Mandan Chapter 10. A ""Darling"" Project Chapter 11. Across the Rockies to the Pacific Chapter 12. The Return Chapter 13. Unspeakable Joy Chapter 14. Philadelphia Interlude Chapter 15. A Classic Cast of Characters Chapter 16. Land of Opportunity Chapter 17. Honor Questioned Chapter 18. Defamed Chapter 19. Jefferson's Letter A Selection of Plants Collected by Meriwether Lewis Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgments"Reviews[Stoud's] conviction that Lewis was wronged by Thomas Jefferson powers this biography, and even if you don't agree with her, she's written a book worth reading.--The Hudson Review Stroud has done a fine job of reconstructing the life of Lewis and the circumstances surrounding his death. Her arguments are cogent and plausible. This book is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the Jeffersonian period or an interest in a fresh approach to the events surrounding the death of one of America's greatest explorers.--The Journal of Southern History Bitterroot is a learned account of the heroic and tragic life of Meriwether Lewis set in the historical context of early America. In his amazing career as soldier, explorer, and pioneer naturalist, and later as politician, he had to deal with unsympathetic government bureaucrats and the animosity of scoundrels in all walks of life.--Alfred E. Schuyler, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Bitterroot offers a refreshing and overdue new perspective on the complicated and often contradictory life of Meriwether Lewis. Patricia Tyson Stroud carefully separates the verifiable facts from the quick judgments of history that have obscured Lewis's character for more than two centuries. This is an arresting portrait that challenges the conventional wisdom and makes a compelling case to restore Lewis's reputation to the luster he enjoyed in his lifetime.--Landon Jones, author of William Clark and the Shaping of the West Rich in analysis, Bitterroot: The Life and Death of Meriwether Lewis provides a candid look and adds provocative insights into the historical conversation surrounding Meriwether Lewis.--Jay H. Buckley, author of William Clark: Indian Diplomat This book is well worth adding to a Lewis and Clark library or an early national period shelf more generally. One learns many small details here that have escaped even the specialists among us.--South Dakota History Rich in analysis, Bitterroot: The Life and Death of Meriwether Lewis provides a candid look and adds provocative insights into the historical conversation surrounding Meriwether Lewis. -Jay H. Buckley, author of William Clark: Indian Diplomat Bitterroot is a scholarly account of the heroic and tragic life of Meriwether Lewis set in the historical context of early America. In his amazing career as soldier, explorer, and pioneer naturalist, and later as politician, he had to deal with unsympathetic government bureaucrats and the animosity of scoundrels in all walks of life. - Alfred E. Schuyler, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Rich in analysis, Bitterroot: The Life and Death of Meriwether Lewis provides a candid look and adds provocative insights into the historical conversation surrounding Meriwether Lewis. -Jay H. Buckley, author of William Clark: Indian Diplomat Author InformationPatricia Tyson Stroud is an independent scholar. She is author of Thomas Say: New World Naturalist, The Emperor of Nature: Charles-Lucien Bonaparte and His World, The Man Who Had Been King: The American Exile of Napoleon's Brother Joseph, and, with Robert McCracken Peck, A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science, all of which are available from the University of Pennsylvania Press. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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