The Suppressed History of America: The Murder of Meriwether Lewis and the Mysterious Discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Paul Schrag and Xaviant Haze
Bear & Company (2011)
ISBN 9781591431220
Reviewed by Deb Shunamon for Reader Views (11/11)

 

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are American heroes for their explorations into the little known American west, in the early 1800s. While their journeys and lives appear to be well known, several parts of their expedition notes are apparently missing and the true circumstances of Lewis’ death remain controversial even today. What is fascinating about “The Suppressed History of America: The Murder of Meriwether Lewis and the Mysterious Discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition” is not just that the authors believe conspiracy was involved in each instance, but that a great deal of information on the prehistory of the United States has been deliberately suppressed for economic and political gain.

Most of the book is spent on presenting mesmerizing information from sources such as the journals and diaries of Spanish explorers, earlier and present day archeological findings, and the documented oral histories of now vanished people. The authors discuss the diversity of native groups that appear to have once existed in the Untied States as well as the strong possibility of pre-historical European/Asian contact, the recording of which may have cost Meriwether Lewis his life. But because many of his diaries, journals and pages of text have gone missing, political figures and institutions such as the Smithsonian are blamed for the suppression of information as well as his murder. And by presenting pre-historical findings, information on the politics and policies of the Louisiana Territory, the Currency Act, the Rothschild family, and the growth of banks before truly focusing on Lewis’ later life, the authors make sure their argument is well out there before mentioning the more popular, better known views.  How convincing they are is up to each reader, but most people would agree that the complete truth has not always told by politicians and the powerful, which makes these authors’ arguments worth considering.

The writing is superb and the pre-historical evidence almost too concise at times, but references are given if readers wish to learn more. What is also done well in “The Suppressed History of America: The Murder of Meriwether Lewis and the Mysterious Discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition” is to argue that if careers have been destroyed for daring to theorize on certain subjects, and documented evidence seems to simply disappear or is ignored without explanation, then questions need to be asked. Schrag and Haze’s book is both logical and questionable at times, but consistently fascinating.

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