Day 2 Armchair Traveling with Explorers

 

Today, let’s look at books where authors are often explorers who are expanding upon field-notes from their explorations.

When considering travel tales, I am most often drawn to first person accounts. They tend to be closer to the experience and the traveler’s responses to their adventures. This type of first-person account can be a journal or diary, truly first-hand accounts, or memoirs which look back at an adventure or experience. Many of these memoirs tend to look back from some distance upon returning from a trip. Some are drawn from long ago memories.

Explorers like Lewis and Clark kept detailed records of their journey and discovery the people they encountered and the sights they’ve seen, and even locations where flora and fauna were collected. They include descriptions of the environment, climate, geography, and the conditions under which the specimens were obtained, collected, or discovered. When they returned, Lewis and Clark submitted their records to Congress which had funded the expedition.

The History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and edited by Elliott Coues (3 volumes) is just one compilation of the amazing adventures of these intrepid explorers. From May 1804 to September 1806, they and their men explored the Louisiana Purchase following first the Missouri River and others as they determined the extent of the purchase, met members of the indigenous peoples who lived on the lands, and even sought a route to the Pacific Ocean. You can read more about the three volume set, now out of print, here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1042356.The_History_of_the_Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition_Vol_1

The Lewis and Clark expedition has been fictionalized, dramatized, and

recounted by many authors and in many abridgements. While an historical fiction account may be what most people want to read, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose is one of the most exciting and illuminating historical studies of the journey and discoveries. Learn about their mission, their fellow explorers, and what they saw along the way https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580616.Undaunted_Courage

We, the reader, get to experience travel without the grit, dirt, or even sweat. We put up our feet and are transported to another place or culture, see another people in their own environment. In some cases, we travel back in time and learn about the past, a culture or place that’s no longer there.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow, day three, we’ll look follow travelers of long ago and far away.