In his extraordinary body of work, James Alexander Thom does more than bring the past to life; he makes us experience history as if we were witnessing it for the first time. Thom's new novel is an enthralling adventure with fascinating real-life characters--and a heart-grabbing narrative that casts a vivid light on a momentous chapter in American history. Flint and Steel begins just after the Louisiana Purchase. Thomas Jefferson has sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to penetrate the newly acquired territory, journey up the Missouri River, cross the Rocky Mountains, and reach the glimmering sea in the far West. To survive, the two captains need an extraordinary hunter who will be able to provide the expedition with fresh game, and a sign-talker to communicate with the native tribes. They choose George Drouillard. It is Drouillard, an actual historical figure, who becomes our eyes and ears on this unforgettable odyssey. Drouillard, a metis raised among the Shawnee, cannot fathom what drives the two men. Nor can he help but admire their ingenuity and courage as they tackle the journey into the unknown. Along the way, he watches as they shrewdly shape and discipline their force, adding French-Canadian rivermen--to guide the expedition up the Missouri--and an Indian woman, Sacagawea, who will play a crucial role in negotiations with the Western tribes. After plunging into an unforgiving land and near madness, the triumphant achievement of two captains will be eclipsed by an overwhelming tragedy that will touch not only Meriwether Lewis and the frontier tribes but George Drouillard himself. A magnificent tale told with intelligence and insight, Flint and Steel is full of song and suffering, humor and pathos. James Alexander Thom has created the rarest reading experience: one that entertains us even as it shows us a new vision of our nation, our past, and ourselves. Thom (Follow the River; From Sea to Shining Sea) has written another historical saga of early America, here recounting the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804$06). Events are seen through the eyes of George Drouillard, the half-Shawnee, half-French hunter hired by Lewis and Clark as the first interpreter for their expedition, at least a year before they met Sacajawea. Thom succeeds in his mission to educate readers about the beliefs and culture of Native Americans, and his knack for absorbing descriptions reveals a breathtaking virgin American landscape so pristine, so full of wildlife, flora, and beauty, that one is appalled by the Americans! behavior. They defile rivers, rape the landscape, use and insult Native Americans, and massacre wildlife as they trudge their way to the Pacific and back. Yet, surprisingly, Thom!s fans will likely be disappointed by his latest effort: the story of the expedition itself, as ploddingly described here, is simply not a gripping subject. Thom devotees and early American history buffs may create demand for this often-dull read, but otherwise it is lukewarmly recommended."Barbara L., Roberts, Maricopa Cty. Lib. Dist., Phoenix Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Noted author Thom revisits a familiar literary landscape in his latest historical adventure. Thom first chronicled the Lewis and Clark Expedition in From Sea to Shining Sea (1984), a fictional biography of William Rogers Clark. This time he offers an account of this monumentally significant journey narrated by George Drouillard, the French-Shawnee half-breed hired by Lewis and Clark to act as both an interpreter and a guide for the duration of their territorial survey. Blessed with a homespun knack for description and a keen understanding of human failings and individual idiosyncrasies, Drouillard provides a unique view of the physical and personal challenges encountered by the entire party along the way to the Pacific Ocean and back. Authentically detailed and populated with a cast of celebrated real-life characters, this stirring tale of tragedy and triumph will captivate fans of epic historical fiction. Margaret Flanagan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Thom retells the Lewis and Clark journey, which he first visited in From Sea to Shining Sea (1984), from the point of view of Drouillard, a half-breed Native American.Adapting the less romantic view of contemporary historians, Thom, again trying to evoke history from a Native American perspective, sees that famed expedition as a harbinger for the subjugation and annihilation of the Indians, who, though threatened by European diseases, weapons and whiskey, would soon find betrayal, slaughter, cultural destruction and slow starvation in the white man's bag of gifts. In Drouillard (his father was French, his mother a Shawnee), Thom has a reluctant, stranger-in-a-strange-land hero. Drouillard is a superb hunter with an almost psychic understanding of living things, as well as an illiterate linguist who can speak English, French, Spanish, and variations on his S