Bitterroot: The Life and Death of Meriwether Lewis

By: Patricia Tyson Stroud

Narrated by: Mark Caldwell Walker

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

In America's early national period, Meriwether Lewis was a towering figure. Selected by Thomas Jefferson to lead the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase, he was later rewarded by Jefferson with the governorship of the entire Louisiana Territory. Yet within three years, plagued by controversy over administrative expenses, Lewis found his reputation and career in tatters. En route to Washington to clear his name, he died mysteriously in a crude cabin on the Natchez Trace in Tennessee. Was it a suicide, felled by his own alcoholism and mental instability? Most historians have agreed. Patricia Tyson Stroud examines the evidence to posit another, even darker, ending for Lewis.

Stroud uses Lewis's find, the bitterroot flower, with its nauseously pungent root, as a symbol for his reputation as a purported suicide. It was this reputation that Thomas Jefferson promulgated in the memoir he wrote prefacing the short account of Lewis's historic expedition published five years after his death. Without investigation of any kind, Jefferson, Lewis's mentor from boyhood, reiterated undocumented assertions of Lewis's serious depression and alcoholism.

Through a retelling of his life, from his resourceful youth to the brilliance of his leadership and accomplishments as a man, Bitterroot shows that Jefferson's mystifying assertion about the death of his protégé is the long-held bitter root of the Meriwether Lewis story.

The book is published by University of Pennsylvania Press.

©2018 University of Pennsylvania Press (P)2018 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A refreshing and overdue new perspective on the complicated and often contradictory life of Meriwether Lewis." (Landon Jones, author of William Clark and the Shaping of the West)

"A learned account of the heroic and tragic life of Meriwether Lewis set in the historical context of early America." (Alfred E. Schuyler, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University)

Great content tarnished by aggressive nature

For those who have an interest in the Lewis and Clark expedition we have heard the case of Lewis' suicide time and time again and it has almost always been the agreed upon end to his story. To finally have a book that takes the other side of the tale was, in a way, exciting It's always good to have contrasting views after all in order for people to formulate their own opinions about how this soul met his end.

As far as how this book divides his life you can expect a good amount of information about his early life, a handful of stories that recap specific events on the expedition he was involved in, and of course one of the most important pieces for their argument- the after years. All in all it there were many interesting facts and stories to behold.

Yet if you look up reviews from historians you'll find a handful of powerful negative ones that sound as though this book has insulted them personally- and that's where the problems I had with this text arise because you'll see very quickly the aggressive stance they take on defending their theory that Lewis' death was murder over suicide. Others' assumptions are referred to as baseless, entirely wrong, or based on lies (which, to be fair, isn't entirely impossible on that last one), while their own assumptions are quick to be referred to as proper, correct, and the no doubt true path. Immediately I got the feeling that this book didn't set out to change the opinions of those who believe it was suicide, but rather to defame them and try to sway new-comers to the story that those who say it was suicide are wrong.

To avoid simply sitting here and recounting how many of their own claims are built upon equally loose ground as their oppositions theories let me give this suggestion to those who wish to read or listen to this book: Don't let it be your first. Familiarize yourself with the Lewis and Clark expedition in other ways, read the other side of the tale first, and then come back to this one. You'll find it benefits yourself greatly to have existing knowledge on this matter and to better formulate your own opinions by first hearing of the prevailing theory, and then looking at this aggressive rebuttal to it.

this is serious, fascinating and profound

Great scholarship, fascinating very revealing about LEWIS' s non suicidal character and strength. a must

Engrossing

This is a new biography of Meriwether Lewis. Stroud appears to be careful about separating verifiable facts from misinformation. The author examined his death attempting to separate fact from fiction. The author attempted to sort out fact from fiction regarding his death; but in my opinion, there was inadequate data to accurately make a decision about the cause of his death.

Stroud examines the complicated and contradictory life of Lewis. The author did an in-depth analysis of his work and life. The book is well written and meticulously researched. Stroud also examined the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis. I found the book easy to read and enjoyed learning more about Lewis and his times. If you are interested in United States history, this is a book for you.

The book is ten hours and twenty-six minutes. Mark Caldwell Walker did a good job narrating the book. Walker is a voice actor and audiobook narrator. This is my first experience with the author and narrator.

Narrator sinks the ship

This biography, with its sympathetic view of Meriwether Lewis, deserved a reader that one could actually listen to.