Saga of Lewis and Clark: Into the Uncharted West by DK Publishing, Thomas Schmidt, Jeremy Schmidt; 2001. Hardcover. (LF)

Beautifully written and illustrated, this book follows Lewis and Clark from the inception of their expedition to their celebrated homecoming. In an effort to seek out -- and stake out -- the fabled Northwest Passage, Captains Lewis and Clark led the expedition from Missouri through uncharted territory to Oregon. They fought rivers, suffered sunstroke, encountered and befriended Indians, and survived hunger, fatigue, and sickness. The journals brought back by various members, excerpted here, present the first written account of the area west of the Mississippi, including the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. Illustrations focus on running maps that serve as time lines, current photographs of still-virgin wilderness, annotated sketches selected from the hundreds of plants and animals (which the expedition documented for the first time), and artifacts created or first archived by Lewis and Clark themselves.