Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West (abridged) (audiobook) by Stephen E. Ambrose



Wonderful, just wonderful.

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio
Read by Cotter Smith
Duration: 4.5 hours 
Abridged

A family friend gave me the abridged audio version of this book that has been on my "to read" list for years. I'd never quite gotten around to it but, boy, am I glad I finally did.
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809)

In Ambrose's hands the story of the Lewis & Clark expedition is lifted from the stale and stilted pages of the history textbooks and it becomes an exciting narrative - full of adventure, wonder and tons of hard work.

 Ambrose is a gifted writer. I am reminded of the David McCullough quote: "No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read." No danger of that with Ambrose. Not only has he read everything there is to be found on the topic but has traveled the route several times.

William Clark (1770-1838)
Cotter Smith did a great job of reading the text and keeping up with its lively prose (with the single exception of mis-pronouncing the capital city of South Dakota - he called it Pierre, like the French name, but they proudly pronounce it "peer".) 

Stephen Ambrose himself handled the intro and conclusion. I can't wait to pass on this audiobook to someone else.

 I rate this audiobook 5 out of 5 stars.

 This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose.

 Reviewed November 9, 2007.

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