There may well be more interesting abridgments, but this version by Anthony Brandt in the National Geographic Adventure Classics is tedious. There's too much repetition of hunting, riverboat navigation, and the like and not enough on the ethnography of the Indian tribes, which would have been a lot more interesting. ( )

This is a GREAT book to read, if you have never read the in depth story of this 18th century U.S. Army expedition by Captains Lewis, and Clark. You must read it with knowledge that there is a good amount of repetition of parts, such as portages over sand bars, camped, met with Indians, etc. But the story does progress, obviously, and I found myself hoping they would make it to the Pacific Ocean. Of course they did, I already knew that, but reading the journals, immerses you in it, to where you forget that momentarily.
This book has nearly every entry Lewis and Clarke wrote. ( )

Contains spectacular scenes of first contact with the Shoshone as well as stunning scenes of natural life before the West began to be populated by Europeans and their descendants. ( )