Across the Continent

Space is clearly at a premium on Lewis and Clark bookshelves as a consequence of a deluge of new publications inspired by the bicentennial of Thomas Jefferson's vaunted voyage of discovery. Significantly, many of the more compelling additions to this latest literary outpouring bypass the actual journey to focus on the expedition in a larger historical context apart from the traditional celebratory narrative of westward expansion. Across the Continent is a noteworthy example of this trend. In making selections for their multidisciplinary collection of essays, editors Douglas Seefeldt, Jeffrey L. Hantman, and Peter S. Onuf opted to look beyond the expedition in order to “explore the complicated ways in which the explorers' world connects to our own” (p. 6). Onuf and Hantman's introductory essay sets the stage with a thoughtful review of the challenges confronting scholars desirous of finding appropriate ways to mark this much-hyped historical milestone. While asserting that in its own time the expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark did not matter that much, they readily acknowledge the odyssey's importance as a quasi-mythological touchstone for American self-understanding. With each passing generation the Corps of Discovery looms ever larger in the American historical imagination and continues to influence popular perceptions of the past. Onuf and Hantman eschew a futile battle to vanquish deeply rooted mythologies, believing that providing an alternative view of the geopolitical, cultural, and scientific context of the explorers' world will yield more productive results and facilitate current efforts to make better sense of the expedition's proper place in history

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• Questioning Whether Thomas Jefferson Was the "Father" of American Archaeology

  Ronald Hatzenbuehler, Ronald L Hatzenbuehler•History and Anthropology•2011

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