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The Character of Meriwether Lewis: "Completely Metamorphosed" in the American West

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If all history books were like this, we would all be avid students of history. I found myself wishing that this book was 500 pages long, because it was so interesting and enjoyable to read. If you have any interest in American history I would highly recommend this book. If you have no interest in American history, I would still recommend it!

The suicide of Meriwether Lewis has always been one of the more tragic and interesting mysteries of American history. Clay Jenkinson, in this book on the character of Lewis, is witty, profound, insightful, and highly readable. We learn about Lewis' interest in food, his views on Indians and women, his longing for an important place in history, his drinking and most importantly, his view of himself. We see the Expedition through the unedited writings of Lewis himself and through Clay Jenkinson's perspective on what those writings reveal.

In the end, we must still speculate about what was in Lewis' heart and head on the night he took his life, but we are left with a much better understanding of the workings of that mind.

This excellent and wonderfully written book celebrates and critically examines the sensitive, lyric, and noble soul of Meriwether Lewis. Clay Jenkinson explores Lewis' psyche from a unique perspective - literally - as a first-person historical interpreter. Profound, humorous, and soulful reflection make this a great read. Jenkinson's knowledge as a Jefferson scholar also enriches the text. Valuable to anyone curious about America's epic. There is also a wealth of information on the author's website.

As Jenkinson notes in his Acknowledgements, "This is a humanities essay, an expression of a perspective" learned over the course of his career thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Jenkinson, who portrays Jefferson on NPR radio wonderfully in the first person, writes a detailed analysis on the character of Lewis in this short but incitefully detailed book. This is not a full biography but a breakdown of the characteristics of Lewis that by the end of the book help the reader understand why Lewis deemed himself a failure to the point of committing suicide. Jenkinson covers Lewis' perception of his role in the expedition, his relationship with Clark, various Indian tribes, views on sex, relationships with women, his final role as governor of Louisianna and Lewis' perception of himself, quite often utilizing Lewis' own words. The posed picturer of Lewis on the cover of the book with an animal skin drapped more for show across his chest than for warmth seems to capture the sentiment of a highly intelligent aristocrat in the wilderness. In contrast to Clark who takes his role seriously yet within the general purpose of exploration, Lewis seems to look at the exploration constantly in reference to himself. In Jenkinson's book, Lewis seems to have a troubled temperment and a superior attitude toward the Indians and men in his company. He prefers the study of birds and animals to the Indian culture that he meets. He also seems concious of his need to be first as an explorer, sharing roles of leadership with Clark but not important points of discovery. Lewis undoubtedly contributed largely to the great success of the journey with his intellect and trained eye for biology but he also is tainted with melancholly. Jenkinson is very fair not to attribute today's typical pyschological diagnosis on Lewis as he states it is unfair to apply today's standards to times 200 years ago but he details a troubled mind that seems to come apart with alcohol, lack of a long term companionship, specifically women, and his non-military role as Governor of Louisianna. Combined with writer's block, his guarding of the Lewis and Clark written journey, his poor relations with civilians within and outside his administration, Jenkinson concludes that it all may have been too much for Lewis who was battling not only for reimbursements but his political life. Jekinson concludes that like Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, Lewis didn't quite receive the recognition he felt due him and that he also reached his "zenith" too soon in life at age 32.

Clay Jenkinson makes history accessible and interesting for the "non-professional" history buff. His writing is lucid and compelling, with wonderful incorporation of both classical references (Hamlet!), and contemporary humor (without excess). As a self-confessed Lewis "fan" and a "suicidist", he nevertheless is extremely fair to the excellent character of Clark, and respectful of those he terms "murderists". Even though he strongly presents the case for suicide, he was fair enough to the murder theory, that I found myself able to see how murder might actually be the cause of Lewis' (unsolved & irresolvable) reason for death. Clay is to be commended for his ability to use contemporary social scientific knowledge about mental illness and causal factors for suicide without the odious current fad for applying contemporary DSM IV diagnostic categories to historical personages. He sketches the personality and moral characteristics of both Lewis and Clark so vividly, I can almost "see" either man acting as an individual, rather than the fuzzy lewisandclark image I've had from previous readings about their "late tour". I found Clay Jenkinson's study of Lewis to be comprehensive, interesting, fair, and well-rooted in analysis of historical materials. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did!!

"Why did Meriwether Lewis commit suicide?" So begins the final chapter of this humanities essay by historical interpreter Clay Jenkinson. Consider carefully the preceding sentence before embarking on Jenkinson's work. The reader is well advised to not confuse this with the work of an historian. Jenkinson invites the reader to "trust my presentation of the facts, embrace what makes sense of my analysis, and cheerfully discard that which fails to convince." Unfortunately, he confuses fact and opinion. He titles the final chapter, "Suicide," as if the manner of death were an historical fact, notwithstanding the earlier disclaimer that, "I will necessarily speculate a good deal in the course of this essay, particularly when I examine the sudden death of Meriwether Lewis." Jenkinson offers, in the end, a comprehensive reading list on Lewis, including the work of Vardis Fisher, Suicide or Murder? The Strange Death of Governor Meriwether Lewis, but one wonders whether he has actually read it. Certainly he did not take away the key point: suicide or murder is a question that has not and likely will never be answered. Suicide is perfectly valid opinion, but not a fact.

Jenkinson offers the reader a view of Meriwether Lewis through a fresh lens. Reading through the essay, one cannot help wondering whether the lens is not, in fact, simply a mirror. Indeed, the author finally admits as much in the final chapter. "I have known melancholia. I have known writer's block. I have felt `that restlessness, that inquietude, that certain indescribable something common to old bachelors.' And I have tried from reading, meditating, re-enactment, and wilderness experience to learn something about the `dark despair that round him blew.'" That may be the essence of humanities essays, but it is not the stuff of historical work.

As for the title, the essay is not well named. In order to advance the thesis that a man "Completely Metamorphosed," an understanding of the preexisting character is necessary. Jenkinson makes no attempt to establish such a position. Ironically, the final chapter does come close to touching on the subject by its attention to the immediate aftermath of the expedition on Lewis' life. Here are a dozen or so pages worth reading and the first glimpse of creative thought on the part of the author. If the reader requires the previous 100 pages for perspective, perhaps the entire essay is worth a couple hours of his or her time. But, for the most part, Jenkinson simply rehashes the work of others, most notably Stephen Ambrose, and simply adds the actor's flair to liven up the prose. Undaunted Courage is a harder read, but it is the kind of work that truly informs as well as entertains.