Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West »

A native of Memphis, HAMPTON SIDES is editor-at-large for Outside magazine and the author of the international bestseller Ghost Soldiers, which was the basis for the 2005 Miramax film The Great Raid. Ghost Soldiers won the 2002 PEN USA Award for nonfiction and the 2002 Discover Award from Barnes & Noble, and his magazine work has been twice nominated for National Magazine Awards for feature writing. Hampton is also the author of Americana and Stomping Grounds. A graduate of Yale with a B.A. in history, he lives in New Mexico with his wife, Anne, and their three sons.

The author of the bestselling Ghost Soldiers returns with a thrilling chronicle of how the West was really won. Between 1846, when President James K. Polk declared war on Mexico, and 1865, when the South was defeated in the Civil War, the United States invaded and conquered the West, creating a mighty nation that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. How this was accomplished is an epic tale of both shame and glory. BLOOD AND THUNDER tells the story of how "Manifest Destiny" was forcibly carried out.

The Washington Post - Jeffrey Lent

The truth of history is often fickle and difficult to determine, and Sides demonstrates his awareness of this with a riveting narrative focus. Like the authors of many other recent works of popular history, Sides dispenses with footnotes but offers an exhaustive bibliography that underscores the scope of this monumental undertaking. Not only does Blood and Thunder capture a pivotal moment in U.S. history in marvelous detail, it is also authoritative and masterfully told.

Prologue: Hoofbeats     1
The New Men
Jumping Off     7
The Glittering World     22
The Army of the West     29
Singing Grass     37
Blue Bead Mountain     45
Who Is James K. Polk?     53
What a Wild Life!     63
The Ruling Hand of Providence     67
The Pathfinder     74
When the Land Is Sick     81
The Un-Alamo     86
We Will Correct All This     91
Narbona Pass     94
The Uninvaded Silence     97
On the Altar of the Country     101
A Perfect Butchery     106
The Fire of Montezuma     111
Your Duty, Mr. Carson     116
Daggers in Every Look     127
Men with Ears Down to Their Ankles     134
The Hall of Final Ruin     139
The New Men     150
A Broken Country
The Grim Metronome     155
Lords of the Mountains     165
The Devil's Turnpike     174
Our Red Children     189
Cold Steel     192
El Crepusculo     206
American Mercury     229
Time at Last Sets AllThings Even     237
A Broken Country     246
The Finest Head I Ever Saw     269
The Death Knot     275
Men Without Eyes     283
Blood and Thunder     299
Monster Slayer
The Fearing Time     325
People of the Single Star     340
The Sons of Some Dear Mother     362
The Round Forest     379
Children of the Mist     396
General Orders No. 55     417
Fortress Rock     429
The Long Walk     445
Adobe Walls     458
The Condition of the Tribes     471
Crossing Purgatory     482
Epilogue: In Beauty We Walk     493
A Note on the Sources     499
Notes     503
Selected Bibliography     531
Acknowledgments     549
Index     551
Art Credits     557