Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Ambrose, Stephen - Albert Furtwangler (review date December 1996)

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Albert Furtwangler (review date December 1996)

SOURCE: A review of Undaunted Courage, in Journal of American History, Vol. 83, No. 3, December, 1996, pp. 1007-8.

[In the following review of Undaunted Courage, Furtwangler concludes that Ambrose fails to capture the literary and larger philosophical dimensions of the book's subject.]

This book has had widespread success, including weeks as a national best seller. For thousands of new readers, it may ease the way into the great Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803–1806. It consolidates dozens of studies from the past thirty years to tell the story in short, accessible chapters with full explication.

Nevertheless, the overarching design of this study leaves much to be desired. The full title promises to unite three difficult subjects, but they remain separate and baffling. Meriwether Lewis remains an enigmatic figure, a brilliant explorer on the trail but an inexplicably...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. John Keegan (review date 22 October 1984)
   2. Herbert S. Parmet (review date 29 October 1984)
   3. Spencer Warren (review date April 1985)
   4. Richard Harwood (review date 3 May 1987)
   5. Herbert Parmet (review date 4-18 May 1987)
   6. Joan Hoff-Wilson (review date 21 June 1987)
   7. John Charmley (review date 4 July 1987)
   8. Sidney Blumenthal (review date 6 July 1987)
   9. Alan Brinkley (review date 16 July 1987)
   10. Richard John Neuhaus (review date August 1987)
   11. Robert A. Strong (review date Summer 1988)
   12. Robert Dallek (review date 15 October 1989)
   13. John Edward Wilz (review date Summer 1990)
   14. Kevin P. Phillips (review date 24 November 1991)
   15. William L. O'Neill (review date 30 December 1991)
   16. Anthony Howard (review date 1 February 1992)
   17. Esmond Wright (review date July 1992)
   18. James N. Giglio (review date Winter 1993)
   19. John Kentleton (review date February 1994)
   20. Earl F. Ziemke (review date March 1994)
   21. Scott Jaschik (essay date 18 May 1994)
   22. William L. O'Neill (review date 6-20 June 1994)
   23. Carlo d'Este (review date 30 December 1994)
   24. Alan F. Wilt (review date June 1995)
   25. Blaine Harden (review date 11 February 1996)
   26. Alexander Theroux (review date 3 March 1996)
   27. Gordon S. Wood (review date 4 April 1996)
   28. Patricia Nelson Limerick (review date 7 April 1996)
   29. Peter G. Boyle (review date June 1996)
   30. Albert Furtwangler (review date December 1996)
   31. Lisa E. Emmerich (review date Fall 1997)
   32. Howard Lamar (review date October 1997)
   33. Josiah Bunting III (review date 21 December 1998)
   34. Eric T. Dean Jr. (review date June 1999)
   35. Steve Weinberg (review date 3 September 2000)
   36. Patricia Nelson Limerick (review date 18 September 2000)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright