I have acquired and devoured each of the recent William Clark biographies as well as the closely-related "Dear Brother". For the folks who will only purchase one such book, this is the one to buy; AND, that is my recommendation not just for casual readers, but for the most demanding historians amongst you. The 'put down' that a writer who honed his writing skills in the places that Landon Jones did, could only produce work that stands out on a magazine rack at the end of a grocery store checkout line, is completely unwarranted.
Take a simple test, if you are undecided. Instead of reading the preface or the first few pages of each book, turn immediately to the Bibliography and -- most importantly -- the Notes to that bibliography, and you will see that the book is not only well-researched, the author is engaged and eagerly encouraging you to go the next mile. Compare that to some pedantic page of ibid, ibid, ibid and you will not only know that you are going to be reading a book that will genuinely inform, you will be reading a book that was made readable by precisely those skills which the author's unique background and experience contrived to blend into the writing of an historical biography.
One final point for those who thought that the author only came to praise, not to bury William Clark -- I don't think you've actually read the book. Each of the works produced about the time of the 2nd centennial of the Voyage of Discovery, is more honest, more analytic of the man than what was written in times past, but of them all, I think Mr. Jones is the most critical of William Clark's attitudes and actions regarding the twin matters of treatment of slaves and treatment of native Americans. With regard to the former, he and others are indebted to the recent publication of the "Dear Brother" letters to help unravel the dissimulation of the previous reporting of Washington Irving. With regard to the latter, he goes beyond the observation of others that point to the destruction of native cultures directly caused by American governmental policies over the course of many separate administrations to make it clear that William Clark was not merely an actor, he was a proponent of some of those policies.
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