“What are the best books about Lewis & Clark?” We looked at 111 of the top books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 19 titles, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Lewis and Clark” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 75+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.

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Top 19 Books About Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

19 .) Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Western Explorers

“In 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were sent by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the largely uncharted western territory of North America, and thus became critical figures in America’s expansion and major contributors to its scientific scholarship. They observed and documented scores of animals, including the Great Plains wolf, mule deer, prairie dogs, grizzly bears, and salmon. Several species and subspecies of mammals, birds, and fish previously unknown to science were recorded for the first time; the information gathered would serve as the basis of scientific study for years to come.
Collected here are stunning photographs by William Munoz that catalog the diverse array of wildlife witnessed by Lewis and Clark. Nature lovers and history buffs alike will be intrigued by this unusual account of the journey, whose bicentennial will soon be celebrated.”

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18 .) Do Them No Harm: An Interpretation of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Among the Nez Perce Indians by Zoa L

Lists It Appears On:

• Lewis Clark Idaho
• Western Explorers

Zoa L. Swayne presents the Native Americans who befriended Lewis and Clark as living, breathing, and colorful individuals, as she paints a vivid and memorable portrait of Nez Perce life and culture.

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17 .) How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark by Rosalyn Schanzer

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• The Best Childrens Books

Appealing art and descriptive text bring Lewis and Clark alive for young adventurers. Carefully chosen text from Lewis and Cark’s actual journals opens a fascinating window into this country’s exciting history.

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16 .) I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall

Lists It Appears On:

• American Heritage
• Goodreads

Brian Hall’s compulsively readable novel vividly re-creates Lewis and Clark’s extraordinary journey into the unknown western frontier. Focusing on the emblematic moments of the participants’ lives, the story unfolds through the perspectives of four competing voices—from the troubled and mercurial figure of Meriwether Lewis, the expedition leader who found that it was impossible to enter paradise without having it crumble around him, to Sacagawea, the Shoshone girl-captive and interpreter for the expedition, whose short life mirrored the disruptive times in which she lived. Bringing the day-to-day life of the expedition alive as no work of history ever could, Hall’s magnificent novel fills in the gaps and provides a new perspective on the most famous journey in American history.

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15 .) Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Naturalists by Paul Russell Outright

Lists It Appears On:

• American Heritage
• Western Explorers

First published in 1969, Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Naturalists remains the most comprehensive account of the scientific studies carried out by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their overland expedition to the Pacific Northwest and back in 1804–6. Summaries of the animals, plants, topographical features, and Indian tribes encountered are included at the end of each chapter devoted to the particular leg of the journey. A distinguished biologist, Paul Russell Cutright will be remembered for this landmark contribution to our understanding of the world that the expedition observed and recorded.

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14 .) On the River with Lewis and Clark by Verne Huser

Lists It Appears On:

• Lewis Clark Idaho
• Western Explorers

On their remarkable journey across the North American continent, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s “Corps of Discovery” traveled almost ten thousand miles, about nine thousand of them on rivers – the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, Jefferson, Beaverhead, Clearwater, Snake, Columbia, and Yellowstone – or their associated forks, creeks, and tributaries. With an expert’s eye, Verne Huser tells us what it was like to mount and carry out such an expedition. From the construction of the boats in 1803 to the negotiation of the last miles home three years later, the explorers were tied inextricably to the river systems that carried them west into uncharted territory and back again. From the Ohio River to the Columbia, they rowed, paddled, pulled, poled, sailed, and portaged their way into history – mapping, collecting, and recording a country’s first glimpse of its Western wealth. Huser has canoed, rafted, or cruised much of the expedition’s route. He brings to the famous story his knowledge of the “ways of wind and water,” giving readers a rare, first-hand look at the benefits and hazards of river travel as they might have been experienced by the thirty-three explorers – some boatmen, some not – on the river with Lewis and Clark.

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13 .) Out West: A Journey through Lewis and Clark’s America by Dayton Duncan

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• PBS

One hundred and eighty years after Lewis and Clark’s “Voyage of Discovery” (1804–1806), Dayton Duncan set out in a Volkswagen camper to retrace their steps. Out West is an account of three separate journeys: Lewis and Clark’s epic adventure through uncharted wilderness; Duncan’s retracing of the historic trail, now in various ways tamed, paved, and settled; and the journey of the American West in the years in between. Readers traveling with Duncan will encounter the people who inhabit today’s West: farmers and ranchers, cowboys and mountain men, Native Americans, residents of dying small towns, city dwellers who have survived cycles of boom and bust. From the Gateway Arch in St. Louis to the Oregon coast, readers will be treated to a landscape as variously impressive as its people.

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12 .) Seaman’s Journal: On the Trail with Lewis and Clark by Patricia Reeder Eubank

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• The Best Childrens Books

Seaman, the Newfoundland dog belonging to Meriwether Lewis, keeps an account of their adventures during the journey to the Pacific.

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11 .) The Captain’s Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe by Roland Smith

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• The Best Childrens Books

Born the runt of his litter and gambled away to a rusty old river man, the Newfoundland pup Seaman doesn’t imagine his life will be marked by any kind of glory. But when he meets Captain Meriwether Lewis, Seaman finds himself on a path that will make history. Lewis is setting off on his landmark search for the Northwest Passage, and he takes Seaman along. Sharing the curiosity and spirit of his new master, the intrepid dog proves himself a valuable companion at every turn.

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10 .) The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness by Clay S. Jenkinson

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Western Explorers

Meriwether Lewis commanded the most important exploration mission in the early history of the United States. Clay S. Jenkinson takes a fresh look at Lewis, not to offer a paper cutout hero but to describe and explain a hyperserious young man of great complexity who found the wilderness of Upper Louisiana as exacting as it was exhilarating.

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9 .) The Essential Lewis and Clark by Landon Y. Jones

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Thought Co.

The journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark remain the single most important document in the history of American exploration. Through these tales of adventure, edited and annotated by American Book Award nominee Landon Jones, we meet Indian peoples and see the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and western rivers the way Lewis and Clark first observed them — majestic, pristine, uncharted, and awe-inspiring.

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8 .) The Fate of the Corps: What Became of the Lewis and Clark Explorers by Larry E. Morris

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Thought Co.

“The story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition has been told many times. But what became of the thirty-three members of the Corps of Discovery once the expedition was over?
The expedition ended in 1806, and the final member of the corps passed away in 1870. In the intervening decades, members of the corps witnessed the momentous events of the nation they helped to form—from the War of 1812 to the Civil War and the opening of the transcontinental railroad. Some of the expedition members went on to hold public office; two were charged with murder. Many of the explorers could not resist the call of the wild, and continued to adventure forth into America’s western frontier.”

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7 .) The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition by Gary E.

Lists It Appears On:

• Lewis Clark Idaho
• Western Explorers

Since the time of Columbus, explorers dreamed of a water passage across the North American continent. President Thomas Jefferson shared this dream. He conceived the Corps of Discovery to travel up the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains and westward along possible river routes to the Pacific Ocean. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led this expedition of 1804–6. Along the way they filled hundreds of notebook pages with observations of the geography, Indian tribes, and natural history of the trans-Mississippi West.

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6 .) The Lewis & Clark Expedition by Richard L. Neuberger

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• The Best Childrens Books

A Landmark History book. A highly readable account of the quintessentially American adventure of discovery and hardship as Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led their men on an exploration of the interior parts of North America.

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5 .) York’s Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American’s Part in the Great Expedition by Rhoda Blumberg

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• The Best Childrens Books

“Did you know that an African-American man participated in Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition? Working alongside free men, Clark’s slave York played an important role in the journey’s success.

This award-winning book draws on extensive research to give a gripping and insightful account of York’s significant contribution to this landmark historical event.”

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4 .) Lewis and Clark Among the Indians by James P. Ronda

Lists It Appears On:

• American Heritage
• PBS
• Western Explorers

“Particularly valuable for Ronda’s inclusion of pertinent background information about the various tribes and for his ethnological analysis. An appendix also places the Sacagawea myth in its proper perspective. Gracefully written, the book bridges the gap between academic and general audiences.”-Choice James P. Ronda holds the H. G. Barnard Chair in Western History at the University of Tulsa.

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3 .) Lewis and Clark for Kids: Their Journey of Discovery by Janis Herbert

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• The Best Childrens Books
• Western Explorers

Following Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s Corps of Discovery as they navigate the muddy Missouri River and begin a great adventure, this activity book is set against the background of the vast North American continent. It takes children from President Jefferson’s vision of an exploratory mission across a continent full of unique plants and animals through their dangerous and challenging journey into the unknown to the expedition’s triumphant return to the frontier town of St. Louis. Twenty-one activities bring to life the Native American tribes they encountered, the plants and animals they discovered, and the camping and navigating techniques they used. A glossary of terms and listings of Lewis and Clark sites, museums, and related websites round out this comprehensive activity book.

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2 .) The Journals of Lewis and Clark by Meriwether Lewis

Lists It Appears On:

• American Heritage
• Goodreads
• Western Explorers

President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition from the Missouri River to the northern Pacific coast and back. From 1804 to 1806, accompanied by co-captain William Clark, the Shoshone guide Sacajawea, and thirty-two men, Lewis mapped rivers, traced the principal waterways to the sea, and established the American claim to the territories of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Together the captains kept this journal: a richly detailed record of the flora and fauna they sighted, the native tribes they encountered, and the awe-inspiring landscape they traversed, from their base camp near present-day St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River, that has become an incomparable contribution to the literature of exploration and the writing of natural history.

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1 .) Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose

Lists It Appears On:

• American Heritage
• Goodreads
• PBS
• Thought Co.
• Western Explorers

This was much more than a bunch of guys out on an exploring and collecting expedition. This was a military expedition into hostile territory’. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a pioneering voyage across the Great Plains and into the Rockies. It was completely uncharted territory; a wild, vast land ruled by the Indians. Charismatic and brave, Lewis was the perfect choice and he experienced the savage North American continent before any other white man. UNDAUNTED COURAGE is the tale of a hero, but it is also a tragedy. Lewis may have received a hero’s welcome on his return to Washington in 1806, but his discoveries did not match the president’s fantasies of sweeping, fertile plains ripe for the taking. Feeling the expedition had been a failure, Lewis took to drink and piled up debts. Full of colourful characters – Jefferson, the president obsessed with conquering the west; William Clark, the rugged frontiersman; Sacagawea, the Indian girl who accompanied the expedition; Drouillard, the French-Indian hunter – this is one of the great adventure stories of all time and it shot to the top of the US bestseller charts. Drama, suspense, danger and diplomacy combine with romance and personal tragedy making UNDAUNTED COURAGE an outstanding work of scholarship and a thrilling adventure.

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The 75+ Additional Best Books About The Lewis And Clark Expedition

7 Best Lewis and Clark Book Sources/Lists