Blood
and Thunder: An Epic of the American West ,
by Hampton Sides & Don Leslie(Narrator)
What a perfect book to accompany a road trip
around the southwestern United States! Hampton Sides traces
the suppression of the Navaho nation during the 19th century
in this comprehensive and compelling tale of the heroes and
villains of the American West. If there could be a main character
in this saga, it would be Christopher (Kit) Carson, a larger
than life figure who epitomized the courage and valor of the
westward explorer. As a popular character in the "blood
and thunders," the trashy, pulp Westerns of the time,
he became an American icon. He was, in fact, an illiterate,
5-foot 4-inch trapper and scout who rode across the plains
on the back of a mule. His life was full of contradictions-although
illiterate, he spoke five Indian languages. He loved and married
two Native American women, but he was instrumental in the
annihilation or removal from their lands of thousands of Indians
during the settlement of the West. At times he demonstrated
great understanding, compassion and respect for the Navajo
and their leaders, but his cruel, violent treatment of the
Navajo people has made his name a curse in their culture.
Hampton Sides has given readers and listeners
a priceless gift by weaving carefully researched facts about
our country's history with beautiful descriptions of its landscape
into a fascinating tale that is more like fiction than nonfiction.
He presents the events and the historical figures who participated
in them in a straightforward, factual manner, but he embroiders
the tapestry with insight about the motives of the featured
characters and the effects of their actions on the resulting
outcomes.
This is a book that can be studied and listened
to by diverse audiences for various reasons. The historian
might find the mule-riding of Carson and the early Roman,
Sulla, only one of the similarities between these respected
but often cruel leaders. The traveler will surely want to
explore Canyon de Chelly and see why Carson is so bitterly
hated by the Navajo. The casual listener will be riveted by
the informative and fascinating descriptions of the exploration
and settlement of the American West. Highly recommended!
Ruth
Mormon
7/15/07
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