William Clark and the Shaping of the West by Landon Y. Jones (2004)
Landon Jones's tale of William Clark's life contains only one chapter about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A more important theme in the book is the part that Clark played in the story of the American Indians - the loss of their land, their removal and their declining fortunes during the span of Clark's life. After Lewis's untimely death, Clark found himself the Territorial Governor of the West, simultaneously fighting and making peace with America's indigenous people.
The sixth son of a Virginia family that moved to Louisville, Kentucky, when William was sixteen, Clark inherited his mother's red hair, a trait also carried by his older brother, George Rogers, a Revolutionary War hero on the western frontier. George Rogers disintegrated into an alcoholic, dependent upon William to pay his debts and collect his credits. In fact, after serving a stint in the army, William's responsibilities centered around caring for his family members: his older brothers, his mother and father, his widowed sister. It comes as no surprise that Clark later assumed a paternal attitude about Sacagawea during the expedition. After her death, he took care of and educated her children in addition to his career and his efforts to expand his ownership of land.
Even though William Clark found himself in highly conflictive circumstances in a career as Indian Commissioner, his affable personality and stable, loyal character bore him through better than most of his compatriots. Clark's fifty-years involvement with "a dark and bloody ground" of America's war against the tribes while he attempted to amass a greater fortune for his own family by acquiring land and participating in the fur trade has been thoughtfully portrayed by Landon Jones, with the use of many good, original sources.
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Biographical information about Landon 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, GreatExpectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation, analyzes the epoch of 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. He will be visiting several communities in Idaho in 2005 to discuss his books and research on Lewis and Clark. Reading his books will provide a foundation for participants in our program to glean more form his visit to our state.
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Book discussion questions for William Clark and the Shaping of the West
- Explain the difference between the relationship of Clark with Sacagawea and that of Lewis with her.
- Describe the roles that William Clark played in the care of his revered older brother, (George Rogers Clark), his parents, his sister, and Sacagawea's children.
- How did Clark's affability aid the expedition in the confrontation with Teton Sioux? How did it aid with obtaining food on the Columbia in exchange for "medical care"? How did it help in 1795 with confronting Spanish "usurpers" on the Mississippi River?
- Trace Clark's leadership over men before, during and after the expedition.
- What responsibility did William Clark have over the tragic fate of American Indians?
- Do you think that Clark's personal and professional goals were at odds with each other? Explain potential conflicts of interest.
- Describe William Clark's relationship to his servant York.
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