A Great Book

As I was working toward my MA in History, one of the areas I was particularly interested in was exploration in the American West. From Lewis and Clark's beginning to the US-Mexican Boundary Surveys, to the US Army surveys for the transcontinental railroad - I have studied and written about many of them. They are fascinating and open a whole new world to how Americans looked at their newest lands.

In addition, as I have mentioned (and as my wife alluded to here) I love native plants. Again, while in high school, I thought I would be the next great American botanist! Didn't happen, but I'm still a wildflower geek. So imagine my surprise when I came across this book!

I was in Hastings (a new book retailer out here) today getting a few movies for the kids and Liss and I and, as always, perused their stock of remainders, when I found this book. I had to look again, could it be?

No.

Really?

Yep!

A book that combines the plant collections of the Corps of Discovery (Lewis and Clark) with beautiful photos, and even better text, of the plants the expedition collected, with a great historical prologue and information on where to see the plants in habitat today. What is really cool is that I have seen a great many of these and even have a number of them in my own herbarium (told you I was a plant geek!) Though the book was printed in 2003, I just now discovered it, and love it!

Anyway, it's a great book, not only for the wildflower lover or amateur naturalist, but for the historian of the American West as well. If you have either of these interests - find a copy!

Oh yeah, and about the cover illustrations - the top flower is a Lewisia sp., the bottom, a Clarkia sp. - pretty slick, huh?!?!