Hampton SidesBlood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West

This was a very interesting and captivating look at the American Southwest. Detailed research and narrative of the southwest pre and post American Civil War, written in an engaging style. Great read for anybody wanting to know more about the history and conflicts of the Southwest in the 1800's.

5 starsThis book is a comprehensive and in-depth study of Christopher “Kit” Carson; his life and times. Mr. Sides has obviously done exhaustive research into not only Carson, but the settlement and growth of the West as well. His detailed book touches on several well known subjects of the West from the ill-fated Donner party, the wars with Mexico to the Civil War and the eventual attempt to subdue and “conquer” the Native Americans. While the book mainly discusses the Navajo tribes, it also touches on the other Native tribes as well. Thus the reader learns a great deal about the Navajo and their legendary leader Narbona. He was a peace-loving chief who tried his best to get along with the soldiers. There were those in his tribe who violently disagreed with his policies, however. Chief among them was his own son-in-law. Narbona was widely respected though, not only among his own people, but among other tribes as well.The book discusses the various tribes that inhabited the plains, their customs and beliefs. It was some of these beliefs that got the Americans (as they are termed in the book), in trouble with the Natives. While there was one or perhaps two well meaning Americans who dealt with the Natives, by and large they were hard men who did not even try to understand their way of life.The reader learns about the travails and hardships of traveling across the West from Missouri and other places in the East all the way to California. Soldiers who knew nothing about the area set out to conquer the Mexican army and annex California and all lands east for the United States of America.Kit Carson plays a part in many exchanges with the Natives. He was married to a young Native woman who gave him a daughter. Essentially a shy man who spoke little, he was very decisive in his actions. He was clever, could not stand bullying and had a fiery temper when provoked. He traveled with some of the big names in history such as Fremont, Bent, Kearney and so on, but made his home near Taos in what is now New Mexico. He had a lifelong embarrassment about being illiterate. He can to hate the way of life in the East. He preferred the outdoor life he had chosen for himself when he left Missouri as a young boy and became a trapper and mountain man. When trapping petered out, he became a scout and soldier with the US Army. Although he was a great friend to the Navajo, his eventual actions led to their downfall and devastation.This is a very excellent book. I believe it is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the settling of the West and the tragedy of the Native Americans. It is reminiscent in some ways to Larry McMurtry's writings, it is wholly non-fiction. Mr. Sides is not a dry author. He makes history interesting and engaging. The book doesn't just quote facts and figures, but tells the reader about the people. We get to learn about who they were apart from their actions; their fears, their weaknesses and interests.

Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West by Hampton Sides is a sweeping, richly detailed narrative that intertwines biography, history, and the drama of America’s westward expansion. The author paints a vivid portrait of Kit Carson, not as the mythologized frontier hero of dime novels, but as a complex, often contradictory figure whose life mirrored the violent collision between Native American nations and the United States. The book skillfully blends Carson’s personal story with the larger story of the Navajo Wars, the exploration of the Southwest, and Manifest Destiny. Sides’ prose is cinematic yet deeply researched, bringing to life both the beauty and brutality of the 19th-century frontier. Presented as a balanced perspective; with Carson’s courage and skill acknowledged, Sides does not shy away from the moral ambiguities and devastating consequences of the conquest. Blood and Thunder is both an engrossing adventure and a sobering meditation on the costs of empire, making it essential reading for anyone interested in the American West’s true and complicated history.

404 pages of text; 16 pages of B&W plates; 2 two-page endpaper maps; 22 pages of end notes (citations); 2 page Acknowledgements; and a 14 page Selected Bibliography. This is a biography of Kit Carson, but paralleled by the contemporary history of the Navaho people. The story follows Carson as he leaves an apprenticeship to become a Mountain Man, his relocation to New Mexico as the Mountain Man era waned, his incredible feats in the Mexican War, his fame, and his Civil War leadership. As a Brevet Brigadier General, he may have been the only illiterate general officer in US Army history. His involvement in the Bosque Redondo tragedy was only after he tried to resign to avoid it, but his resignation was denied by his commanding officer. A real page turner about a 19th century Forrest Gump (he was on intimate terms with John and Jessie Fremont, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, the Bent brothers, Steven Watts Kearny, and General Sherman, fought notably in the battles of Valverde and San Pasquale, and was summoned by President Polk to the White House to give his a briefing) and western icon. The book is also informative on the history of the Navaho people and their centuries long conflict with the hispanic settlers on New Mexico. Highly recommended.