Customer Reviews

Do Them No Harm: An Interpretation of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Among the Nez Perce Indians

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Ms. Swayne has done an excellent job of telling the story of one indian tribe's encounters with American explorers. Not really a portrayal of Lewis and Clark themselves, it is more a glimpse into what the world looked like to the Nez Perce 200 years ago. It's told from the Indians' point of view, based on oral and written history collected after much research by Ms Swayne. Each stage of the unfolding story is contrasted with entries from Lewis's and Clarke's journals. The different views of the same developments provides real insight into the different world views and problems faced by the Indians and the explorers.

It's a fairly short book written in the style of a novel, and is a good relaxing read for adults or teenagers.

Few books have been written that tell about the Native American's side of history. This book tells about the Nez Perce stories of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in Idaho. Zoa Swayne spent decades interviewing tribal elders and studying the journals before putting this book together. Clark met 3 Nez Perce boys on the Weippe Prairie, Zoa discovered the names of 2 of the boys. Lewis and Clark spent 2 1/2 weeks in the Nez Perce country building canoes before continuing on to the Pacific Ocean and nearly 2 months on the return trip, so there is a lot to tell.