Out West

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Tracing the route taken by the Lewis and Clark expedition leads a modern traveler to a lot dead ends; as New Hampshire journalist Duncan discovered, time and civilization have wrought change. Driving a battered camper, he made two summer journeys and one in winter, following the explorers' trail of discovery. Duncan tried to experience situations akin to those of the expedition: in North Dakota he spent a wintry night in a Mandan earth lodge, sleeping under buffalo robes; in Montana he joined other Lewis and Clark buffs for a canoe trip on the Missouri to a well-documented campsite. From St. Louis to the Oregon coast, Duncan introduces us to the small towns and people of the modern West. This is an off-beat story that successfully combines history, travel and personal adventure. 35,000 first printing; author tour. (May)

Library Journal

Following Lewis and Clark's 1804-06 expedition route, transplanted (to New Hampshire) Iowan Duncan weaves a description of that journey with his own and that area's history. Although adding what has happened in intervening years is reasonable, it occasionally interrupts the dramatic juxtaposition between the 19th-century explorers and the 20th-century writer. Nevertheless, we are left with a sense of awe for Lewis and Clark's accomplishment and envy for Duncan's travels. This is a book of adventure, sightseeing, history, people, and the land. With Duncan, we see Omaha stockyards, depressed farm country, an Indian ``sweat,'' legalized buffalo hunting, and a Nez Perce powwow. His travels engender a concern for the plight of the Native American and the declining family farm. Photos not seen. Roger W. Fromm, Bloomsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.