Review of "William Clark: Indian Diplomat." By Jay H. Buckley.

Authors

University of California, Los Angeles and Autry Institute for the Study of the American West, University of California, Los Angeles and Autry Institute for the Study of the American West

Date of this Version

2009

Citation

Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 29, No. 2, Spring 2009, pp. 000-000

Comments

Copyright 2009 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska- Lincoln

Abstract

For decades, radio commentator Paul Harvey broadcast a program called "The Rest of the Story." Six times a week, Harvey recounted stories that put a surprising twist on familiar episodes. Often the rest of the story involved constructing epilogues that followed the careers of well-known persons after they had left the spotlight. In some ways Jay Buckley's study of William Clark can be seen as a contribution to Harvey's series. Although the book includes chapters on Clark's earlier life and his cocaptaincy of the Corps of Discovery, threequarters of it involves what Clark did after he came back from that celebrated (and much chronicled) expedition. In sharp contrast with most books about the journey of Lewis and E:lark, which treat the aftermath as little more than an insignificant postscript, Buckley's main concern is with Clark's service, principally as an "Indian diplomat," from 1807 to his death in 1838.