Newer PostOlder PostT U E S D AY, N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 0 6Kit Carson -- Hero Or VillainJust finished Hampton Sides' new book "Blood and Thunder: An EpicOf The American West." Originally intended to focus on The Long Walkof the Navajos -- a forced relocation of the tribe -- Sides' bookexpanded into a biography of trapper, soldier, explorer and nationalhero Kit Carson and his role in Manifest Destiny.</p><p> Carson's personaljourney is fascinating and pretty moving.</p><p> Illiterate and devotedlyfaithful to anyone he saw as a "superior," Carson married an Indianwoman and grew to know their ways.</p><p> But he also fought bitterly withtheir warriors, was a brutal attacker when he felt wronged and took thelead role in some of the greatest defeats for various tribes.</p><p> But Carsonalso respected each tribe, knew their differences, condemnedmassacres of them and -- while misguided -- championed various"remedies" in a sincere desire to see Indian tribes "protected" and verylate in life realized most of their miseries were the result of white men.Carson was as pure a symbol of Manifest Destiny as there was -- hemight have felt sorry about it, he might have even sort of tried tominimize the damage, but he knew that the white people were comingand it never occured to him they didn't have the right to do so.</p><p> All ofthis makes this book sound a bit dry, but it's filled with exciting battles,thumbnail sketches of various tribes, colorful depictions of leaders onall sides who were stubborn and proud and wrong-headed and once ina great while actually enlightened.</p><p> A model of popular history. *** 1/2out of ****.POSTED BY MICHAEL IN NEW YORK AT 11:26 AM 0 C O M M E N T S :Post a CommentL I N K S T O T H I S P O S TCreate a LinkHomeSubscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Next Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Kit Carson -- Hero Or Villainhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/11/kit-carson-hero-or-villa... 1 of 37/28/09 2:00 PMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SAaronBiboyMichael in New York POPSURFING.COM: Kit Carson -- Hero Or Villainhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/11/kit-carson-hero-or-villa... 2 of 37/28/09 2:00 PMPOPSURFING.COM: Kit Carson -- Hero Or Villainhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/11/kit-carson-hero-or-villa... 3 of 37/28/09 2:00 PM
