The Essential Lewis and Clark, edited by Landon Y. Jones (2000)
Many condensations of the Lewis and Clark expedition exist: Bakeless, DeVoto, Moulton, and others (see "For Further Reading"). The difference between all of them and Jones's edition is the word "essential." He has boiled down the original journals of the two captains to the most "essential" events. Therefore, his edition is shorter. It includes crucial parts of the story. It omits scientific and ethnographic descriptions, latitudinal notations, other journalists' writings, and geographic information.
There is no substitute for a "primary source," the original story told by the person who experienced it. Landon Jones allows the reader to taste reading the original journal entries of Lewis and of Clark that record major events of the journey without getting bogged down in the voluminous pages of their experiences. Perhaps this sampling will whet the reader's appetite for more.
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Biographical information about Landon Y. Jones
Landon Jones has had a thirty-seven year career as a magazine editor. He served as managing editor of People magazine for eight years and wrote and edited for Time, Life, and Money. His first book, Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation, analyzes the epoch of the mid-century Americans after World War II. His second book, The Essential Lewis and Clark, reflects an interest in the primary documents of a different era, which also engaged his tenure upon the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. A biography of William Clark's career, William Clark and the Shaping of the West, was published in May of 2004. Jones lives in Princeton, New Jersey. The Log Cabin Literary Center will bring Jones to several Idaho communities in the spring of 2005. Reading his books will provide a foundation for participants in our program to glean more from his visit to our state.
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Book discussion questions for The Essential Lewis and Clark:
- How does reading an original journal (a "primary source" such as Landon Jones has edited) differ from reading a "secondary source," an account retelling the original story, such as all the other books on this list?
- What is the difference between Lewis' journal entries and those of Clark?
- Why do you think Clark almost always wrote in his diary and Lewis left huge gaps in the sequence of his journal writing?
- What could be a problem with condensing someone's daily journals?
- Do you want to read a longer, more complete version of the Lewis and Clark journals?
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