Charles Fritz: 100 Paintings Illustrating the Journals of Lewis and Clark unites exquisite Western art with one of our nation's greatest epics. The result of a decade of comprehensive research and on-location painting, this expanded collection of 100 paintings depicts the triumphs and travails of the Corps of Discovery's two-and-a-half-year trek through unknown territory to the Pacific Ocean and back between 1804 and 1806. Although several members of the Corps of Discovery kept journals, an artist did not accompany the expedition. Unlike almost every expedition since, there had been no one to visually document the unique people, landscapes, animals, and plants never before seen by Americans living in the East. With artistry and a passion for historical accuracy, Charles Fritz, one of the nation's most respected Western artists, brings the Journals of Lewis and Clark to life, telling this remarkable American story visually-and for the first time allowing us to experience what the Corps saw on their historic journey.

This stunning collection of paintings by acclaimed artist Charles Fritz captures some of the most fascinating and historic moments in the epic Lewis and Clark Expedition. The paintings are presented in chronological order as the Corps of Discovery moved West in search of the Pacific Ocean and then returned home. The paintings are complemented both by quotes from the journals of Lewis and Clark and other members of the Corps and by fascinating historical vignettes that illustrate the Expedition's trials, tribulations, and triumphs.

«Reading Fritz, it becomes clear that disaster provides not only opportunities and communities but a changed sense of self that matters.» (Rebecca Solnit in "A Paradise built in Hell") The text in this report was written in 1961. This raises an obvious question of why it remained unpublished for 35 years? Also, why did the Disaster Research Center (DRC) decide to publish it at this time as part of its Historical and Comparative Disaster Series? To understand part of the reasoning behind the latter decision requires some understanding of the answer to the first question. Reconstructing the past is not always easy. However, as part of an oral history of the early workers in the disaster research field in the United States, we have for the last ten years been conducting interviews with those involved, as well as collecting many personal and organizational documents, including letters and other records. From such an array of relevant primary and secondary data, we think we have been able to ascertain what happened concerning the original manuscript prepared by Fritz. (From the Foreword by E. L. Quarantelli)