A Study Guide for Stephen E. Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Stephen E. Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Nonfiction Classics for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Nonfiction Classics for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535841825

Book preview

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Undaunted Courage

Stephen E. Ambrose

1996

Introduction

In his introduction to Undaunted Courage, Stephen E. Ambrose writes that he feels privileged to have had the opportunity to spend so much time with Meriwether Lewis. With this expansive work, which he had wanted to write for twenty years, Ambrose takes the opportunity to unfold the Lewis and Clark drama. He makes it come alive, even for those readers who, unlike Ambrose, have never followed the Lewis and Clark trail.

By the publication of Undaunted Courage, several books had already appeared that chronicled the Lewis and Clark expedition. Still, this new work was immediately recognized as a valuable addition to historiography. Ambrose's thorough study provides telling details of the journey—drawing at all times on the extensive journals the company commanders wrote—and what its findings meant to early nineteenth-century America. His work is carefully placed in the context of the times, providing the reader the necessary comprehension of the morals and values of the period. Ambrose's work is unique for another reason. Throughout the book he injects his own enthusiasm for the incredible undertaking of traveling to a completely unknown land. The work also reflects his own admiration for the two men who were most important to it: Thomas Jefferson, the man who conceived it, and Meriwether Lewis, the man who carried it out.

Author Biography

Stephen Ambrose was born on January 10, 1936, in Decatur, Illinois. He grew up in the small town of Whitewater, Wisconsin. Ambrose's father was a doctor, and Ambrose headed to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, intending to pursue an undergraduate degree in pre-med. However, an American history course inspired Ambrose to switch his major. After earning his bachelor's in 1957, Ambrose went on to earn his master's degree at Louisiana State University the following year. He returned to Wisconsin for his doctorate, which he completed in 1963. Ambrose has taught at institutions including Louisiana State University (LSU), Johns Hopkins University, and the University of New Orleans. Ambrose retired from the teaching profession after thirty years.

While still in graduate school, Ambrose edited and published several books focusing on the military. While teaching at LSU, Ambrose received a phone call from an admirer of his biography of Civil War general Henry Halleck. That admirer was former president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who appointed Ambrose to edit his papers. This lifelong association was prodigious for Ambrose; he eventually published numerous books, including a multi-volume set of Eisenhower's