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94 of 110 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Important book, marred by political correctness, October 19, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide (Hardcover)
This book is the catalogue to a Lewis & Clark Exhibit being put together by the Smithsonian and Missouri Historical Society. First, the good news. The exhibit (and book) documents and presents over 400 objects and artifacts related to the L&C expedition. These items have been gathered from institutions from all over the world (such as the American Philosophical Society, Smithsonian, Library of Congress, National Archives, etc.) The objects presented consists of maps, art work, journal excerpts, expedition artifacts, Indian artifacts. Some of the object are directly traced to the expedition; others (such as some of the Indian artifacts) are presented as examples of objects that Lewis & Clark describe in their journals. Each object is described, photographed, and documented. One chapter of the book describes (with flow charts) how the expedition artifacts have traveled over the past 200 years and how the items reached various institutions. The photographs are beautiful, the book layout is stunning. The book is well-worth the money for this alone. Unfortunately, as with many Lewis and Clark books, the text (witten by Carolyn Gilman)is marred by political correctness.
For example, one whole chapter is devoted to the role of women in the tribal society versus the roles of women in post-colonial society. Why this is relevant to the Lewis and Clark expedition escapes me. But then, I am a man, so I am likely too stupid to understand this. Ms. Gilman calls the biblical creation account in Genesis the "Euro-American" creation story. No Carolyn, the biblical creation story arose in Mesopotamia about 4000 years ago. The Corps of Discovery is basically presented as a bunch of stupid white men whose trip would have been so much easier if they had only listened to the Indians. Well, they did listen to the Indians, on many ocasions. At one point, she briefly mentions how the Corps hired an Indian (Old Toby) to guide the Corps through the Bitteroots. She fails to mention that Old Toby got them lost. However, this does not stop her from criticizing Clark for failing to listen to Sakajawea, who knew a shorter path. Apparently, in this case, Clark listened to the wrong Indian. She attributes the fact that the Corps was able to shoot the waterfalls on the Columbia River to "luck," because the local Indian tribes were sure that the Corps would fail. Hey, why not praise the skill of the Corps? They had been paddling rivers for 1 1/2 years, maybe they learned something. Her most disgraceful writing is her all too brief description of William Clark's post expedition career, in which she accuses him of "Ethnic Cleansing." Of course, she does not provide much detail to support this outrageous statement, which I consider to be gutless.
These type of statements are most unfortunate because there is a lot of good information in the text. The descriptions of tribal society are excellent. The mapping section is, in general, very good, even though I don't accept some of the conclusions. For example, while the evidence certainly shows that the Corps was greatly surprised by some of this country's geographical surprises, the idea they couldn't accept them this is not supportable. Read their maps and journals. Lewis called his team "The Corps of Discovery." He compared his expedition to Capt. Cook and Colombus. Why would he do that unless he expected to "discover" new things? To her credit, Ms. Gilman does discuss slavery as practiced by the Indians and even briefly mentions that some of the tribes did practice human sacrafice. That is almost never mentioned in most Lewis & Clark books because, in my view, it would distract from politically correct view of the American Indians as the world's first hippies. However, like most Lewis & Clark books, the author, in general, is "value neutral" when discussing Indian society, practices, and beliefs but highly judgemental when discussing Lewis and Clark. Why is it so hard to be value neutral in both cases and let the reader make the judgements? By the way, notice that I don't use the term "Native American in my write-up. Why? Because most American Indians don't like it. You would have thought someone from the PC police would have asked American Indians what they thought of the term "Native American" before trying to force the rest of us to use it.
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47 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tragic Revisionism, November 12, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide (Hardcover)
This book is a tragedy. Because it is the text that will accompany the bicentennial touring exibit of L&C it will have a wide spread readership, yet it is another politically correct dose of revisionist clap-trap. Much of it deals with Indian Culture that has few specific connective points to the Corps of Discovery and their brave and honorable exploration. There is no doubt that many Indian tribes played important roles in the success of the venture. They showed friendship and intelligence at critical times during the L&C Journey. Yet, to pound and pound on this to the point that L&C are nearly reduced to stumbling, lucky buffoons finally wears thin. All the negatives(L&C were slaveholders etc., etc.) are highlighted while many of the astonishing achivements are glossed over. The photos are inconsistent. I know the intent was to show the articles on display at the exhibit but many pictures are too small to do justice to the subject shown. There are some beautiful prints of Bodner and Catlin paintings but again an overabundace of Indian artifacts and dress. This book could have and should have been so much more than it is. The quality of the paper and binding are its strongest points.
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14 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crossing the Divide, January 12, 2004
This review is from: Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide (Hardcover)
This is an outstanding book: lucidly written, well-reasoned, soundly researched, and visually appealing. In my review of this book and others on the Lewis and Clark expeditiion, published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I state that the subtitle refers to the divide the author crosses, that is, the divide that has so far minimized or ignored the crucial role played by Indians, including Indian women, in making the explorers' long journey successful. Carolyn Gilman crosses this divide skilllfully and diplomatically. Granted, readers and viewers who resist fresh interpretations that grant to non-whites and women the recognition they deserve, as does this book, are likely to call her approach "politically correct." That label misses the point. The appropriate label for the author, the book, and exhibition it accompanies is "h.h.," that is, "historically honest." Cross the divide with the author, and that is what you will discover. My review can be found at <www.stl.today.com/books>.
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