More for Lewis and Clark fans.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Here are some other recent books about Lewis and Clark:

DEAR BROTHER

By James Holmberg (Yale University Press, $35)

Forty-five long-lost letters from William Clark to his brother, Jonathan Clark - they first surfaced in family holdings in 1989 - are finally published in an important edition that sheds new light on the famous explorer's concerns before, during and after the transcontinental expedition.

Here is firsthand information that was either sketchy in his famous diary or missing altogether (including his belief that Meriwether Lewis' death was a suicide).

A thoughtful, scene-setting essay and heavily annotated footnotes give the reader evidence that this volume was a careful historian's labor of love.

Not for the casual reader, but a boon to serious Lewis and Clark students.

FINDING THE WEST: EXPLORATIONS WITH LEWIS AND CLARK

By James Ronda (University of New Mexico Press, $22.95)

In wide-ranging and exceptionally provocative essays, an eminent historian dives beneath the expedition's well-washed surface to illuminate aspects others gloss over.

Through vivid prose and penetrating insights, he convincingly reveals what Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Thomas Jefferson were probably thinking at the time of their history-making project.

Downright gripping is his stunning, inside-the-skin revelation of Chinook Chief Coboway's response to the strangers hunkered down inside their log stockade at Fort Clatsop.

A must-read for any serious pilgrim on the trail of Lewis and Clark.

THE WAY TO THE WESTERN SEA

By David Lavender (University of Nebraska Press, $18.95)

A first-rate historian with a gift for turning dry facts into exciting prose provides a moving, suspenseful and detailed narration of the expedition's daily progress across the country and back.

Especially effective is his portrait of the expedition's dreary wintertime stay in Oregon, where it encountered boiling rapids and suspicious natives along the Columbia River and struggled through a long, wet winter at Fort Clatsop.

The story comes wonderfully alive through thorough scholarship and a lively imagination.

ALONG THE TRAIL WITH LEWIS AND CLARK

By Barbara Fifer and Vicky Soderberg with maps by Joseph Mussulman (Far Country Press, $19.95)

A perfect companion for a modern-day journey along the Lewis and Clark trail, the revised edition provides a handy summary of 28 key historical locations, followed by lists of sites to see and places to stay, along with easily referenced maps that tie it all together.

With phone numbers, motel rates, admission charges, highway locations and the like, this is a useful, everything-you-ever- wanted-to-know guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition.

GOING ALONG WITH LEWIS & CLARK

By Barbara Fifer (Montana Magazine Press, $11.95)

Children and adults alike will find much to admire in this beautifully illustrated guide, which breaks the expedition down into easily digested, bite-sized chunks. For example, the book includes sections on who the explorers were, what they wore, where they went, what they ate, how they traveled and so on.

The author knows the story inside out and unloads myriad facts in a straightforward manner. An excellent primer.

Reviews provided by arts reporter Fred Crafts. He can be reached by phone at 338-2575 and by e-mail at [e-mail].