Editorial Product Review:

Item Description:
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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Customer Rating: - great choice for history buffs & western fans
A history of expansion into the southwest wrapped around a biography of Kit Carson. Wonderfully entertaining the more so for being historically accurate.

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Customer Rating: - Excellent
This book was so enjoyable I hated to see it end. I fell in love with the man and the era all over again. What a neat person this Kit Carson was and the tale was so aptly rendered by Hampton Sides. It was a fun book as well as interesting book to read. Kit had a childlike quality all his life that never left him and people found endearing. I wish I could have known him and Mr. Sides just about get a person to do that with his words.

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Customer Rating: - Blood and Thunder recommended for non-history buffs
This is one of the best historical books on Kit Carson and the the conquest of the American West. Since I was born and raised in New Mexico, it brought a perspective of my home state that I was never aware of until now. Thoroughly readable and totally entertaining, Hampton Sides has recreated the old west like it really must have been. I could almost taste the dust.

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Customer Rating: - Great Book
Fantastic book on Kit Carson, but also New Mexican, southwestern and Native American history as well.
Thoroughly engaging, informative and even handed. I highly recommend this book.