The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis

by Michael Pritchett

Book Overview

While writing a biography of his famous namesake, Bill Lewis, a high-school history teacher, nearly loses himself in his attempts to understand one of the great untold stories in American history--the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932961410
• ISBN13: 9781932961416
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: Unbridled Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

I was really affected by this book...

The book tells parallel stories, one of Bill Lewis, 21st century clinically depressed high school history teacher; the other of Meriwether Lewis, one half of the famed explorer team, Lewis and Clark. In fact, the modern-day Bill Lewis is writing a book about Meriwether Lewis and is focused on discovering whether the first Lewis' death was suicide or murder, as he himself entertains more and more suicidal thoughts. That doesn't set it up to be a real positive book, does it? But, somehow, this book was very affecting to me. It definitely turned Meriwether Lewis into a fascinating person full of stunning contradictions. The author relied heavily on the journals of expedition members and I fully intend to seek those out in the near future.

Good Historical Fiction

The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis by Michael Pritchett was a fascinating, engrossing book. I looked forward to reading this book so much as this summer my husband and I took a trip following a northwest route, some of it following the same route taken during Lewis and Clark's famous journey. I stood at Cape Disappointment where Lewis and Clark stood, trying to imagine their reaction to what they saw. Almost impossible to imagine as the whole developed country lay behind me and a vast wilderness lay behind Lewis and Clark at they looked out at the Pacific. While the language used, that of the nineteenth century, was difficult to read and somewhat slow going, it fit the story and made it feel quite real. The story is told in two voices, that of Capt. Meriwether Lewis and of Bill Lewis, a high school history teacher who is trying to write the history of Capt. Lewis. As the book progresses, you find that Capt. Lewis and Bill Lewis share many traits, one being an overwhelming depression, to the point of wondering how each got up every morning to do the work assigned to them. Bill Lewis is hampered by many factors, his marriage is in trouble, his son won't eat and he has an irresistible impulse to associate with women who will only further damage his marriage. He despairs of ever finding whether Capt. Lewis actually committed suicide or was murdered. Overall this was an engrossing, excellent book. The overwhelming amount of research to write this book was obvious and a job well done. I look forward to reading other books by Mr. Pritchett.

"In 1806, Lewis was touted at Presidential dinners in his honor. Just three years later, he was dea

Focusing on the health, both physical and mental, of Meriwether Lewis during and after his twenty-eight-month exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, author Michael Pritchett shows the price paid by all the participants, especially by Lewis. Appointed by Thomas Jefferson to lead the expedition, which began in August, 1803, Lewis fought depression for much of his life, a condition which was not improved by the travails of the long expedition and the responsibilities he faced, including that of writing a journal, a task he often postponed. Pritchett shows Lewis as he journeys from Pittsburgh to the Pacific and back, battling despondency, hunger, and illness, and dealing with lack of materials, wild animals, some rebellious party members, and hostile Indian tribes. Along the way, he falls in love with Sacagawea, the interpreter who accompanies her French husband, a chaste love on which Lewis never acts (which may have added to his stress). Since Lewis is shown trying to commit suicide in the first ten pages of the book, it gives nothing away to say that Pritchett, in creating his fictionalized version of Lewis, adheres to the belief that Lewis's death, three years after the journey, was suicide, not murder, the result of his depression, unrequited love, poor health, debts, and opium addiction. A parallel narrative, taking place in contemporary times, follows the story of Bill Lewis, a high school teacher, also severely depressed, who is trying to write a book about explorer Lewis. Faced with marital troubles, a teenage son who has an eating disorder, an abused and pregnant former student (called "Joaney") whom he is trying to help (as Lewis tried to help Sacagawea, called "Janey" here), and an uncertain future, Bill Lewis is shown as the modern day equivalent, psychologically, of Lewis the explorer. The contrast in scale between Lewis the explorer on his epic journey, and Bill Lewis the teacher, however, makes Bill Lewis's problems seem somewhat self-indulgent. The men's depressions and their immediate causes may seem similar, but the resources in modern times are so much greater that some readers may have difficulty identifying with Bill Lewis. Lewis the explorer, however, is not a totally sympathetic person, either. He severely flogs a member of his party whose own depression has led to his desertion, he marks three Indian tribes for extermination, and he shows a shocking level of cruelty (and lack of Enlightenment). A man who "seemed unable to live on water, food, and air as though denied his proper nutriment on this earth," Lewis is a fascinating if contradictory character, one who may or may not be a hero for Pritchett's readers. n Mary Whipple The Venus Tree Meriwether Lewis: A BiographyBy His Own Hand?: The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis Journals of Lewis and Clark (NG Adventure Classics)Suicide Or Murder?: The Strange Death Of Governor Meriwether Lewis

Lewis and Lewis

Bill Lewis is a high school history teacher with such a bad case of writer's block that it is taking over his life. Lewis is working on a biography of famed explorer Meriwether Lewis and knows that he needs to have his book in print before the impending 200th anniversary of Meriwether's death in order to maximize the impact of the book. But Bill has become so obsessed by the mystery of Meriwether's death just three years after he and William Clark returned so triumphantly to civilization that he finds it impossible to finish the book unless he can fully explain Meriwether's apparent suicide. Bill Lewis and Meriwether Lewis have much in common as it turns out. Like Meriwether, Bill suffers from periodic, but chronic, depression to such a degree that thoughts of death and suicide are never far away. Bill dislikes men and finds it as difficult to build a friendly relationship with another man as Meriwether did two hundred years before him. Meriwether yearned constantly for female companionship and wanted nothing more than to marry. Bill, although married, is in such an unstable relationship with his wife and son that he finds himself drawn to unlikely candidates with whom he might be able to begin a new life. Michael Pritchett tells the intertwining story of these two men by alternating chapters in the voice of each man. He relies heavily on the actual journals of Lewis and Clark to tell the story of their famous expedition, quoting directly from the journals at times and using the same flowery language of that time to detail their adventures and the battle that Lewis waged with depression even as he pushed westward. As Bill Lewis gets closer and closer to the chapter of his book that will describe Meriwether's apparent death at his own hand, he seems to be sinking into the same state of melancholy that claimed Meriwether's life. For Bill, it becomes a race to the finish but it is a question of whose life will end first, his or Meriwether's. Pritchett has written an interesting book but at times I found that the language and style of the early nineteenth century made for slow and difficult reading in the Meriwether Lewis chapters. The Bill Lewis chapters were a welcome break from that style but, as Bill began to identify more and more closely with Meriwether, even those chapters began to use Meriwether's antique style. Michael Pritchett's The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis puts a human face on Meriwether Lewis and, although it does not claim to solve the mystery surrounding his death, it is a book that will very likely encourage many of its readers to seek out the original Lewis and Clark journals.

interesting comparison between a legend and an everyman

High school history teacher Bill Lewis decides to write a biography of his famous namesake Meriwether Lewis to be completed in time to meet the bicentennial anniversary of the renowned explorer's suicide, October 11, 1809. Bill researches Meriwether's interaction with the Burrs, father and daughter, who expected to become the empires of the west when they led the succession from the union. The modern day teacher studies the Lewis and Clark expedition and his subsequent time as governor of the Louisiana Territory. Meriwether meets other famous figures upon his return to DC as he has a hero's welcome. Eventually he slid into depression and three years after his triumphant return with Clark from the Pacific, broke and addicted, Meriwether killed himself. Meanwhile in the present Bill has family problems caused by his teenage son who refuses to eat. This leads Bill back into clinical depression which jeopardizes his biography and his marriage. The story line rotates between the modern day subplot and that of the early nineteenth century. Both are well written as readers obtain a sense that besides the same surname, the two Lewis males suffer similar mental problems. Fascinatingly the current Lewis with his everyday family life is the more passionate segue. Somewhat this is so because of the recent focus on the two hundredth anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition to find a Northwest passage so that Meriwether's emotional collapse and suicide has become well documented abating the impact. Biographical fiction fans will appreciate the comparison between a legend and an everyman; who is the hero depends on who is deciding as Bill's family might choose him for his efforts to overcome his depression to try to be there for them. Harriet Klausner