Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West, by Hampton Sides

This book is a five star right off the bat; thoroughly engaging, brilliantly written, wonderful but sad, enlightening but brutal, our history of the American west. This is a beautifully written book that takes epic form in retelling the tales of the American southwest. He spares us no details, not stone unturned, proving firsthand accounts of the main players of the American southwest; the explorers, the fur trappers, the Navajo, the military, the Mexicans, as well as some of the prominent figures that laid out the 1820s through the 1860s. He puts in perspective the Indian and Mexican wars, the removal of the Navajo from Canyon de Chelly, the settlement and taking of California and the west coast, the thinking behind James Polk’s obsession obtaining the West for America, and the connection of events that resulted in manifest destiny. The events laid out in this book were of huge importance to the shape of the United States today, yet are little known by most Americans. We would all do well to read this magnificent book and add it to our education system curriculum so our young worriers can absorb the plains, the places, and the events that made us what we are today first hand.

Carson was all of that described above, a humble man, brave, loyal to his friends, a demon to his enemies. He was a man of his time, yet stood head and shoulders above many of his contemporaries. He loved the Ute Indians and helped save them from the forces destroying other tribes. He despised the Navajo, but made sure they were on an equal playing field to other tribes. He despised the raiding and killing. He killed many and he made peace with many. He was a General in the Army, he was a fur trapper, a scout, a guide, an adventurer, and he made history wherever he went. He couldn’t read and he was probably the only general in the US Army that couldn’t. His first apprenticed as a trapper and learned from the best of the mountain men, then took the western landscape in as if it were a part of him. He became the most reliable guide and trailblazer known and began to serve in the US Army, as he sought to tame, not only the wild natives but the nation of Mexico. He had a deep respect for the Indian, married first an Arapaho woman, whom he deeply loved, and after her sad death, he married a Cheyenne, which quickly proved to be a disaster. His third wife he loved most dearly, and had seven children with her. People and events enveloped around him: The Mexican-American war, the clash of Indians, New Mexicans, Californios, new settlers on the Santa Fe Trail, the life of the great leader of the Navajos, Narbona, and his awful death, the relentless and brutal efforts of the US Army at relocation and or eradication of the Navajos, the coming of the Civil War to New Mexico, to name but a few historical events. With all these historical events, Kit Carson was made as one of America's first pop heroes. Sides focuses on Carson's real life as if it were almost representative of an entire era.

This is an extraordinary book, rich and expertly written. Although Kit Carson's life figures prominently in this work, many other pivotal figures are brought to life to tell this tale, such as General Kearny, Carleton, Narbona, and Manuelito. One can never go West again and feel quite the same about it after reading this work.