A fresh perspective on the expansion of the American West

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	• Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West Hampton Sides Anchor, 2007 - 624 pages average customer review:based on 130 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Very good history of the American West

Hampton Sides has written a very solid account of the wild American West. While Kit Carson is the primary focus I would hardly call this a biography - in fact, it appears to be more of a true period history with Kit Carson weaving in and out of the narrative. Oddly, this is my main complaint - parts of Kit Carson's most interesting adventures were only touched upon. I am amazed that Sides did not include more one Carson's travel with Fremont. For an excellent account of these adventures I would highly recommend A Newer World : Kit Carson John C Fremont And The Claiming Of The American West and Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire as excellent companion books.

While I am a bit baffled at the omission of the John Fremont/ Kit Carson adventures it really is my only complaint. Otherwise, Hampton Sides has written a fair and compelling account that speaks to harshness and brutality of the American West. Sides paints a vivid account of the settler/indian skirmishes that plagued the 1800's. Sides shows that both parties had its villains and its peacemakers. Kit Carson is portrayed as 2 parts indian killer and 3 part peacemaker.

"Blood and Thunder" centers on the life of Kit Carson, however the Navajo indians play much more than a secondary role. Sides tells a history of the Navajos that is rarely seen in popular writing. We see that they have flawed characters and utter inability to understand the culture that was thrust on them. The histories of the Navajos and Kit Carson collide when he is forced to embrace a scorched earth policy that drove the Navajos into submission.

Sides has an engaging writing style and while parts get bogged down in detail "Blood and Thunder" typically reads quickly. I also enjoyed the amount of effort that was put into research - while it is true that most of the sources are secondary Sides did an excellent job compiling the facts into a free-flowing narrative.

IF you enjoyed "Blood and Thunder" I would also highly recommend
A Newer World : Kit Carson John C Fremont And The Claiming Of The American West
The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream (My personal favorite)
Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire

All three books tell stories that are equally unbelievable and gives you a new respect for the early western pioneers.

Overall 4 1/2 stars rounded to 5

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Enjoyable read

Blood and Thunder is a lively and well-written history about Kit Carson, the exploration of the Southwest, and the eventually pursuit and incarceration of the Navajo after the Civil War.

Sides really knows how to make people and places some alive. The shy and loyal Carson, the preening and vain John C. Fremont, and the proud but somewhat sociopathic Navajo leader Narbona are all brought to life along with dozens of minor characters. Sides makes a point of showing the dark side of manifest destiny and how relentlessly the Indians were pressured to give up their way of life. This book really made me want to go visit New Mexico and Arizona and see the canyons, Anasazi ruins, etc.

Blood and Thunder is an enjoyable read and introduction to the topic.

Reviewer: Liz Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis and Clark"

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A fresh perspective on the expansion of the American West

Subtitled "The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West", this 2006 well-documented saga transported me to a time and a place that I've been hearing about all my life. It's all packed into a mere 497 pages and every page unearthed new facts and figures about the history of America from the 1820s to the late 1860s.

The narrative is tied together by following Kit Carson, a frontiersman from the American southwest, a trapper and soldier who was illiterate, but was able to speak five different Indian languages as well as Spanish. I learned a lot from this book, mostly about the people who were involved in what is sometimes called the "manifest destiny" to expand America from ocean to ocean and conquer all peoples who got in their way. Here we meet a cast of familiar characters from President James K. Polk who instigated the Mexican War, to army explorer John Charles Freemont as well as all the army officers and politicians who played a role in changing the landscape of America forever. We also meet the Indians.

The writer brings a critical eye and a deep understanding to the politics of the time which forced the destruction of the various Indian groups. I learned more than I ever thought I would about Indians, especially the Navajos, who fiercely resisted the American expansion but, in the end, became but a shadow of their former selves.

The book is rich in detail, and every page is full of facts. Kit Carson saw himself becoming a legend in his own time. Mostly, this legend was pure fabrication from the pens of flamboyant writers, but his name is forever linked with those turbulent times which saw him eventually becoming an officer for the Union army and leading battles against the Indians who he certainly respected.

The book is interesting and also a little dense for my taste. I found I was forgetting the names of the battles and the officers and the different tribes of Indians as I was reading. It was one of those books that I read all the words but let the details wash over me as I experienced the bigger picture of how the west was won. It was bloody and it wasn't nice. There was cruelty and injustice but that's just the way things were. We can't whitewash the truth of history.

Blood and Thunder gave me a fresh perspective on what really happened all those years ago that formed the America I know and love today. It is not for a book everyone though. I just happen to love history.

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BRILLIANT!

Hampton Sides has written one of the finest histories of the American West to date. BLOOD and THUNDER is a fascinating adventure of not only Kit Carson, but the many people he was associated with in his incredible travels throughout America's western expansion. The characters come alive, as Sides describes their personalities and motivations. This is a very equitable presentation of the conquest of a land and it's people, with rationales for the participants behaviors, both good and bad. Hampton Sides wonderful writing style allows the history told in BLOOD and THUNDER to translate into the present day, and helps to explain current challenges to the land and people of the United States of America.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of ?Manifest Destiny,? this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness.

In Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides gives us a magnificent history of the American conquest of the West. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won.

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