Sacagawea: A Life from Beginning to End

Sacagawea is widely known as the Native American woman who helped guide Lewis and Clark across the western frontiers of North America in the early 1800s. It was an extraordinary journey that took a small band of explorers thousands of miles into uncharted territory, across treacherous mountain passes, vast plains, and all the way to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. This was indeed a remarkable and historic period for both Sacagawea and the rapidly growing nation of the United States.

But as incredible as all of that undoubtedly was, there was more to Sacagawea's life than her epic adventure with Lewis and Clark. She was a Shoshone girl who grew up learning to survive off the land, was kidnapped at the age of twelve by a hostile tribe, and was subsequently passed from one hand to another before fate placed her in the path of two explorers who needed her more than they ever fully acknowledged. She helped keep the expedition alive through some of its darkest moments, all while carrying an infant on her back, without pay and without any formal recognition.

This book not only regales the reader with that epic journey but also documents everything that led up to it and everything that came after. Because the story of Sacagawea did not begin with Lewis and Clark, and it did not end with them either.