Corps of Discovery: A Novel: Based on the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806 [Paperback]

Jeffrey W. Tenney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

From their ragged camp on the east bank of the Mississippi River, the small band of backwoodsmen, Indian traders, scofflaws, whiskey hounds, and refugees stare into the setting sun and wonder what they have gotten themselves into.

They have signed on as soldiers, under the leadership of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark of the U.S. Army. They will cross the unexplored Louisiana Territory by way of the treacherous Missouri River, then continue on foot into and beyond the Rocky Mountains. They have been promised ample rewards for their service. But what had looked like a grand opportunity to sport with their new rifles, and to run wild with the Indian women along their route, is taking on a different prospect. It is plain to see now that these army officers have other ideas for them. There are rules to obey. Stern discipline awaits any who steps over the line.

If word of long, frigid winters, bloodthirsty Indians, and trackless badlands weren't enough to give them second thoughts, it seems there are some among these recruits with private ambitions. Officers, or any one else who gets in their way, be damned.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The author is a resident of Minnesota. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, with masters degrees in anthropology and environmental health. The money comes from employment as a senior research analyst. His spirit finds renewal through travel in the American West.

Product Details

• Paperback: 468 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Showcase Press (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595167578
• ISBN-13: 978-0595167579
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,808,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A companion novel to The Journal of the Expedition, May 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Corps of Discovery: A Novel: Based on the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806 (Paperback)

This is a gritty, you are there take on the progress of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Tenney has a good feel for the ways and motives of men such as these must have been--tough, far from gabby (a thing that struck later European and East Coast travelers in the West was how silent the men were), men good and bad but mostly well in between. Tenney clearly knows what it's like to make your way through this territory. As I followed Corpsmen pressing and weaving through the brush along the Missouri I half expected the sting on the face from a backlashing branch. That's the kind of thing I mean by 'knowledge of the ground'. Although I am not anyone who could really know about this, Tenney's Indians seem vastly more believable than those in other Old West writings familiar to me. THESE original Americans differ markedly (yet, realistically, not utterly) from the Corpsmen in their thoughtways. They are definitely Other. But, and this can't have been easy to do, Tenney gives shape to these thoughtways so that they strike the reader as unexpected yet valid, not wholly fathomable yet worthy of respect, and (so far as I could see) devoid of false modernity. I found this book a rewarding read and expect many others will agree.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Corps of Discovery, June 24, 2001

By 

Donald D. Schuster (Monticello, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Corps of Discovery: A Novel: Based on the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806 (Paperback)

Excellent novel, interesting characters, both heroes and scumbags. It may have been just like this on the real journey.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Character-driven novel for the history buff, June 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Corps of Discovery: A Novel: Based on the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806 (Paperback)

This one, plain and simple, has made me a believer in historical fiction. Too much of what I have tried in the past has suffered from weak and glorified characterizations, improbable, synthetic, hyped, and ultimately lifeless re-portrayals of media-worn events. Jeffrey W. Tenney provides us with a ground-level view of the historical, wherein the epic is broken down into its smallest, untidiest increments, and characters falter as much as they charge ahead.

Everyone knows the basic plot and the "star" characters of this epic story. Who would not now, after so many conventional renditions, prefer to see the Lewis and Clark Expedition through the eyes of characters like William Clark's slave, York? Or through those of the hunters, who spend most of their time in the backcountry where "captain's orders" pale in the presence of the onrushing grizzly bear or the hard-faced Indian warrior?

Tenney's narrative, pacing, and dialogue take the reader on a smooth, entertaining ride, but characters are the heart of this novel. The soldiers, hunters, guides, and boatmen of the Expedition, as well as the Indians met along the way, come in those mixes of flaw and virtue that make people interesting and sympathetic. Characters must battle their own inner enemies while contending with the layers of outer conflict the author heaps upon them. Using a highly creative structure, in each new chapter Tenney shifts perspective to portray different characters' experiences with these struggles. This device makes for chapters as vivid as short stories, the whole of the novel unfolding like a carefully pieced and brightly hued quilt.

I recommend Corps of Discovery highly for the history buff, but even more so for the novice of that genre, as a guide to what it can be at its best.