Category Archives: Reading

Nine Pounds Per Day

By | April 28, 2011

When I go to a restaurant, I am usually satisfied with a 10-oz steak.  I might go for the 16-oz one if my dad is buying.  But I can’t imagine eating much more than one pound of beef.  Not so with the 31 men on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as described by Stephen Ambrose… Read More »

The Greatest Mass Migration

By | April 25, 2011

Stephen Ambrose, in Undaunted Courage, notes that the westward movement of Americans towards the Pacific Ocean was inevitable. “This absurd notion showed how little Jefferson knew about Americans living west of the Appalachians. With the [Louisiana] Purchase, or even without the Purchase, there was no force on earth that could stop the flow of American… Read More »

A Transportation Revolution

By | April 21, 2011

I have just finished reading Stephen Ambrose’s biography of Meriwether Lewis in Undaunted Courage.  This is a fascinating work primarily concerned with the Lewis and Clark expedition of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803-1806.  I have marked certain sections of the book and may share more in a couple of coming posts.  Ambrose’s observations about the… Read More »