This Vast Enterprise - by Craig Fehrman (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A major revisionist history of the Lewis and Clark expedition: For the first time in a generation, This Vast Enterprise offers a fresh and more accurate account of one of the most important episodes in American history, humanizing forgotten figures and shattering long-held myths.

"This Vast Enterprise is a page-turner and a fantastic achievement." --The New York Times - "Immensely engaging." --The Wall Street Journal - "This is vivid, character-based history...It also makes for a ripping good read." --The Boston Globe

"Do we really need another book about the Lewis and Clark expedition?...My answer is an emphatic yes. The author has done a huge amount of research, shifting the focus away from the familiar pairing of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark...Each chapter unfolds from the viewpoint of a different individual and the result is a richly woven tapestry of voices...Fehrman reframes this well-known story, revealing it as more complex, and profoundly human." --Andrea Wulf, The New York Times Book Review (front-cover review)

In 1806, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return from their journey--having led the Corps of Discovery across eight thousand miles of rapids, mountains, forests, and ravines--they bring an incredible tale starring themselves as courageous explorers, skilled survivalists, underrated scientists, and peaceful ambassadors. While there is truth in those descriptions, there is also distortion.

From one of the most exciting new historians to emerge in the past decade, This Vast Enterprise offers a novel take on the expedition: a gripping narrative that draws on lost documents, stunning analysis, and Native perspectives. Craig Fehrman spent five years visiting more than thirty archives, interviewing more than a hundred sources, and collecting oral history passed down over centuries. He came to see that the success of Lewis and Clark depended on much more than just Lewis and Clark. We all know Sacajawea, and some of us know York, the Black man Clark enslaved. But here we meet John Ordway, a working-class soldier who fought grizzlies and towed the captains' hulking barge. We hear from Wolf Calf, a Blackfoot teenager who watched his friend die in a battle with Lewis and his men.

Each chapter moves to a different person's point of view, describing their desires and contradictions. We see Thomas Jefferson operating in an age of bitter partisan unrest--his secret political maneuvers to fund the expedition, revealed here for the first time, are a case study in presidential power. We witness the strategy and strength of Black Buffalo, completely upending our understanding of Lakota-American diplomacy. York, in his chapters, finds ways to wield power and make choices in an era that didn't allow him much of either. Clark is not a folksy Kentuckian but a student of the Enlightenment. (Fehrman discovered his college notebook; no previous biographer even realized that he went to college.) Lewis is someone willing to sacrifice everything for his country and his mentor, Jefferson.

In the end, the captains are men who needed help--from Sacajawea, from the Corps, and from each other. Mile after mile, the expedition pushes on through hailstorms and flash floods, frostbite and infections, rattlesnakes and rabid wolves, with the Spanish cavalry in fierce pursuit. Fehrman balances the story's adventure with the humanity of its protagonists. The result is a thrilling reminder that even the most familiar moments in history can still surprise us.

Review Quotes

"A born storyteller . . . Fehrman spent five years crafting this frontier Rashomon . . . in which the journey unfolds through multiple viewpoints distilled from 30 archives and a hundred Native and other oral histories. What in less skillful hands might have been a mere travelogue becomes a cross-cultural, stunningly rendered rethink of Discoverers and Discovered. . . . Fehrman has written a rousing adventure tale that may also qualify as the most lyrical of survival guides."
--The Washington Free Beacon

"This Vast Enterprise is a distinctive new interpretation. . . . I can personally attest that it has caused me to reappraise my own understanding of certain themes. [Fehrman] has proved once again that if one is simply diligent enough to read closely and study the patterns there's always more to learn. . . . This is sleuthing and revisionist history at its best . . . [with] a strong narrative cadence and witty writing throughout." --David L. Nicandri, We Proceeded On

"Historian Craig Fehrman offers a revelatory take on Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery expedition. The chapters alternate among characters, presenting the arduous journey from different perspectives. In addition to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark . . . the deeply researched account also foregrounds lesser-known figures."
--Christian Science Monitor, "Best Books of April"

"Craig Fehrman has done what he set out to do: shed new light on a fabled story, and tell it in a way that puts all of us back in a vanished but resonant world. His rendering of the Lewis and Clark saga is original, compelling, and memorable."
--Jon Meacham, author of And There Was Light

"There are innumer­able accounts of the Corps of Discovery, and it remains one of America's favorite stories . . . Yet Fehrman man­ages to breathe new life into this well-worn tale through his masterful retelling. Fehrman deftly moves Captains Lewis and Clark out of the spotlight and brings in per­spectives we've not heard before--like those of Lakota leader Black Buffalo, working-class sergeant John Ordway and a Blackfoot teen­ager named Wolf Calf--and he expands our understanding of the critical characters we've come to know in lore and legend. . . . Like Adam Higginbotham's Challenger and Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns, This Vast Enterprise delivers a brilliant new interpretation of a story that deserves to be known in its entirety."
--BookPage (starred review)

"This book is so, so good, one of my favorites of the last decade."
--Patrick Wyman, Tides of History

"Craig Fehrman has done an incredible job of bringing this story of exploration and manifest destiny to life. He presents a kaleidoscope of figures whose lives intersected with the duo on their trek across the country, from enslaved men working alongside them to the Indigenous people whose territories they encroached on. It's history that feels colorful--and like a more accurate portrait of what truly unfolded." --Traci Thomas, Marie Claire

"An incredible feat, Craig Fehrman's This Vast Enterprise is a wildly entertaining history of Lewis and Clark--the product of more than half a decade of rigorous and immensely impressive research--that never loses sight of the adventure at its center. Fehrman brings this legendary expedition thrillingly to life by turning our attention beyond Lewis and Clark themselves, revealing the oft-overlooked people and perspectives that made the journey possible. Expansive, compelling, and alive on every page, this is a perfect summer read for America's 250th anniversary." --Isaac Fitzgerald, The TODAY Show, "Summer Beach Reads: The Buzziest Books of the Season"

"Riveting . . . Grounded in outstanding scholarship . . . By writing from various points of view, Fehrman broadens the long-held narrative of the expedition, enriching what we know of its successes and failures. . . . Fehrman has done a great service to American history in this must-read."
--Booklist (starred review)

"For a fresh take on the first American road trip: The Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark, Indiana-based journalist Craig Fehrman's immersive panorama, drawing on oral histories and long-buried sources, rescues this potted narrative from the usual classroom tales of two men and a canoe, for a revelatory portrait about mutual surprise, allowing equal time to both the discovers and the owners of the land being discovered."
--Chicago Tribune

"This Vast Enterprise is a page-turner and a fantastic achievement. . . . Do we really need another book about the Lewis and Clark expedition? . . . After reading This Vast Enterprise, my answer is an emphatic yes. The author has done a huge amount of research, shifting the focus away from the familiar pairing of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and widening the lens. . . . Each chapter unfolds from the viewpoint of a different individual and the result is a richly woven tapestry of voices. . . . Through the perspectives of 10 people, Fehrman reframes this well-known story, revealing it as more complex, and profoundly human."
--Andrea Wulf, The New York Times Book Review (front-cover review)

"This is vivid, character-based history. . . . Fehrman weaves a tale that uses human stories to go beyond hard facts and calcified myths. . . . This Vast Enterprise moves Lewis, Clark, and their crew out of the realm of myth and into a world not just of blood and sweat but also negotiation: with the land, with Native peoples, and with each other. Fehrman's approach to this well-trodden historical chapter is fresh and inclusive. It also makes for a ripping good read."
--Boston Globe

"More than 220 years later, the Lewis and Clark expedition still intrigues. . . . In his immensely engaging book, This Vast Enterprise, Craig Fehrman strives to capture the motivations, values and ideas of the individuals who contributed to this multifaceted historical event. . . . Based on thorough research of published and unpublished sources, as well as Native American oral tradition, the book gives this well-known story a fresh breadth of implication."
--Wall Street Journal

"An innovative new history of the expedition . . . History is usually written in the third person, even though it has to be lived in the first, and Fehrman takes advantage of the rich and deep documentation of the Lewis and Clark expedition to try to reconcile the discrepancy. . . . Fehrman doesn't attempt to speak in the voices of his subjects. He merely focuses on what each individual experienced and knew, while keeping in mind how much they didn't experience and didn't know--an analytic technique that historians have always been free to borrow from novelists but often lose sight of in the scramble to accumulate data."
--New Yorker

"A valuable fresh look at a storied moment in American history . . . The book's wide-angle perspective is appropriate, since Lewis and Clark favored a more democratic decision-making style than was usual on a military expedition, and the inclusion of multiple Native points of view makes it clear how complex and fraught the team's mission was. Fehrman's approach gives added depth to his chronicle of the breathtaking natural wonders encountered and extraordinary hardships overcome on the Corps' transcontinental trek."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A piercing revisionist account of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's 1804 expedition . . . Readers will learn much from this revelatory unveiling of the raw humanity behind the hagiography."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"I followed Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition to the Pacific in Craig Fehrman's This Vast Enterprise. . . . I now feel as if I know how the Lewis and Clark team felt. . . . Lewis, Clark and several of the 30 men with them kept detailed journals, and Fehrman has drunk deeply from them as well as from recollections of the Native American leaders they encountered along the way. I felt like I was sharing the vistas, smells, discomforts, injuries, terrors (grizzly bears!) and occasional joys of an expedition now over 200 years back. . . . [Fehrman] scored a touchdown."
--John McWhorter, New York Times Opinion

"This Vast Enterprise [is] an ambitious, appropriately timed book. . . . The Lewis and Clark story sits at the intersection of American idealism and original sin--the pioneering spirit that defines American exceptionalism, and the displacement and slavery that shadowed it. Fehrman doesn't choose a side. He offers an optimistic view of America through a self-critical lens. . . . This Vast Enterprise has much to say about the well-known heroes. More importantly, it advances the story, helping us understand what drives Americans from all walks of life to venture into the unknown."
--Indianapolis Star

"When America was just 30 years old, as opposed to 250, the adventure-loving President Thomas Jefferson commissioned what we could call the original great American road trip: the Lewis and Clark expedition. In This Vast Enterprise, gifted journalist and historian Craig Fehrman tells a new and gripping story of this expedition, relying extensively on original archival documents and other primary sources. . . . In a note to his readers, he reflects on the 10 people around whose voices he's structured his book: "I love each of these ten people, even if some of them break my heart." Reading his book--especially in learning what happened to some of them after the expedition--one cannot help but agree. But also, only the things we truly and deeply love can break our heart--like the love for our country and its traditions, the beauty and the hurt, glory and ignominy, forever inseparably together."
--The Dispatch

"Stirring . . . The expedition, called the Corps of Discovery, required an incredible amount of nonstop work over three years. . . . In addition to the complex logistical challenges, the journey had political, international, and scientific implications. . . . Fehrman recounts the many battles and rivalries between the Hidatsa, Lakota, Arikara, Mandan, Shoshone, and others--a complex web of alliances and enmities that Lewis and Clark had to navigate as well. . . . Fehrman dives deeply into the oral histories of the Native Americans to reveal their perspectives on the explorers."
--National Review

"The tale of two intrepid explorers traversing the Missouri River to map the Western U.S. is a familiar one, and Fehrman didn't want to tackle it unless there was something new to say. Turns out there was more than anyone could have imagined. This Vast Enterprise chronicles the expedition in meticulous, beautiful and sometimes gory detail. [Fehrman] spent five years burrowing into the heads of not only Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, but scores of other figures who had largely been hurled aside by history."
--Evansville Courier & Press

"What makes Craig Fehrman's new history so valuable is the voices of others involved that flesh out the traditional account and offers viewpoints and nuance to the story that have never been heard before. . . . Fehrman has penned a new telling of the greatest adventure of our early Republic. This Vast Enterprise adds new strands to a rich tapestry of true American adventure, one worthy of its place in the pantheon of the American story."
--Carolina Chronicles

"An extraordinary new book."
--Clay Jenkinson, Listening to America

"The Lewis & Clark Expedition has been the subject of a mighty mound of writing, from histories to biographies streams of historical fiction to stage plays and even a couple of operas, and that naturally opens the door to a great deal of mythologizing. This mythologizing takes a serious and thoroughly delightful pounding in This Vast Enterprise . . . . The real account was not only far more complicated but, as Fehrman rightly notes and then proceeds to demonstrate, a much better story. . . . This multi-viewpoint narrative structure ends up being spectacularly effective. . . . Immensely satisfying."
--Open Letters Review

"Anyone interested in American history, and especially the Lewis and Clark expedition, must read this book. Fehrman is an insightful researcher, and an excellent and entertaining author."
--Robert J. Miller, author of Native America, Discovered and Conquered, enrolled citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe

"By featuring a vibrant and diverse cast, including Native men and women, Craig Fehrman gives greater depth and a richer context to the famed Lewis and Clark expedition. In vivid prose and with keen insight, This Vast Enterprise reveals the high stakes of American expansion for the continent."
--Alan Taylor, author of American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850

"In This Vast Enterprise, Craig Fehrman has composed a magnificent hymn to a wildly colorful and largely unsung cast of fascinating, provocative characters without whom the epic of Lewis and Clark never would have been possible. A sweeping and revelatory story by a writer who is willing not only to acknowledge but also to embrace the complexities, nuances, and richness that have always resided beneath the surface of one of America's most cherished national myths."
--Kevin Fedarko, New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Park

"It's appropriate that the most fascinating characters in Craig Fehrman's riveting new page-turner are translators. For, like all the finest historians, Fehrman is a master translator, too: between historical epochs, between cultures--and most of all, between the story of Lewis and Clark we learned as kids (two heroic white men and their enthusiastic Native assistant blazing new vistas of science and exploration), and the richer and far more fascinating reality."
--Rick Perlstein, author of Reaganland

"Here, at long last, is the Lewis and Clark expedition presented in living technicolor. Employing an ever-shifting point of view that slyly and intriguingly builds upon itself, we see the great historic project as an epic of mutual discovery, in which the explorers and those whose lands are being explored are given equal consideration and dramatic weight. In this way, Fehrman leads us to confront the deeper truth that 'discovery' is never a one-way process--its fruits and its legacies, its gifts and its curses, flow in multiple directions."
--Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and The Wide Wide Sea

"In his spectacular new book, every bit as audacious as the original expedition, Craig Fehrman rewrites our memory of the journey of Lewis and Clark, broadening the lens to show the many personalities--many long forgotten--who in 1804 made up the most daring American experiment yet. He paints an incredible, vivid, you-are-there portrait of an American nation being imagined and created for the first time and all those, from Thomas Jefferson to Native American chiefs, whose lives were forever altered by two of the most famous explorers in history."
--Garrett M. Graff, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Devil Reached Toward the Sky

About the Author

Craig Fehrman, a journalist and historian, spent six years writing and researching This Vast Enterprise. His first book, Author in Chief, was described by Thomas Mallon in The Wall Street Journal as "one of the best books on the American presidency to appear in recent years." Fehrman lives in Indiana with his wife and children.