Authors: Hampton Sides, Don Leslie
ISBN-13: 9780553756814, ISBN-10: 0553756818
Format: Compact Disc
Publisher: Random House Audio Publishing Group
Date Published: October 2006
Edition: Abridged
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 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.