By His Own Hand?: The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis

by John D. W. Guice, Jay H. Buckley, James J. Holmberg, Clay S. Jenkinson

Overview

For two centuries the question has persisted: Was Meriwether Lewis’s death a suicide, an accident, or a homicide? By His Own Hand? is the first book to carefully analyze the evidence and consider the murder-versus-suicide debate within its full historical context. The historian contributors to this volume follow the format of a postmortem court trial, dissecting the case from different perspectives. A documents section permits readers to examine the key written evidence for themselves and reach their own conclusions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806138510
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	01/15/2007
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

John D. W. Guice, Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi, and author of the Foreword, says of Everett Dick's The Dixie Frontier, that "persons interested in the American heritage should read it because it is a 'people' book-one about the daily lives of Southern men, women, and children who pushed into the lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains."

Jay H. Buckley is Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University, coauthor of By His Own Hand? The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis, and author of William Clark: Indian Diplomat.

James J. Holmberg is curator of special collections for the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky, and editor of Dear Brother: Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark. Gary E. Moulton is editor of The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He resides in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Editorial Reviews

This book examines in detail whether Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809), co-leader of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition, was murdered or shot himself while traveling the Natchez Trace in 1809. Essays by historians Guice (emeritus, Univ. of Southern Mississippi; Frontiers in Conflict: The Old Southwest) and James J. Holmberg (editor, Exploring with Lewis and Clark: The 1804 Journal of Charles Floyd) argue the merits of each case. New forensic interpretations update previous treatments by Vardis Fisher (Suicide or Murder? The Strange Death of Governor Meriwether Lewis) and David Leon Chandler (The Jefferson Conspiracies: A President's Role in the Assassination of Meriwether Lewis). A final summary by Jay H. Buckley (contributing author, America Looks West: Lewis and Clark on the Missouri) takes the form of a fascinating historical trial in which the reader is given the role of juror. Published in the final bicentennial year of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, this well-written study attempts to throw light on what has been the dark shadow of the otherwise dazzling success of the Corps of Discovery. Highly recommended for public, high school, and academic libraries.-Nathan E. Bender, Univ. of Idaho Lib., Moscow Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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