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Rendezvous Reader Paperback – June 18, 1997
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The early plans for Mount Rushmore called for blasting heroic likenesses of mountain men--Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and John Colter-—into the solid mountain granite of South Dakota. Readers of this colorful volume will see the heroics and the brutally rugged individualism that made these fur trappers candidates for legend and infamy.
The accounts of the mountain men are spun from the experiences of a nation moving westward: a trapper returns from the dead; hunters feast on buffalo intestines served on a dirty blanket; a missionary woman is astounded by the violence and vulgarity of the trappers’ rendezvous. These are just a few of the narratives, tall tales, and just plain lies that make up A Rendezvous Reader.
The writers represented in this book include a dyed-in-the wool trappers, adventuring European nobles, upward-gazing eastern missionaries, and just plain hacks who never unsheathed a Green River knife or traveled farther west that the Ohio River. What these writers have in common is that all of them, whether they dealt mostly in fact of entirely in fantasy, helped to create a uniquely American icon: the mountain man.
Though A Rendezvous Reader will certainly be of interest to the historian and the historically curious, the true purpose of this anthology is to bring together in one volume the liveliest most readable accounts by and about the mountain men. Whether you sample or devour this anthology of mountain horrors and delights, it is a book guaranteed to entertain as well as inform.
- Print length392 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherUniversity of Utah Press
- Publication dateJune 18, 1997
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100874805392
- ISBN-13978-0874805390
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“The next best thing to spending some time with Jim Bridger and Kit Carson around a campfire.”—Old West
“Culled from the best writings by and about the mountainmen.”—The Herald Journal
“Lively, readable account of the ‘horrors and delights’ of this fascinating chapter of Americana.”—Cowboys & Indians
“Talbot’s account holds attention with its easy-to-read style. An attractive, even somewhat sympathetic, story of a trader remarkable for his caution and wise in his choices of safe and productive trapping areas.”—Oregon Historical Quarterly
“Skillfully added prose of explanation, interpretation, and editorial comment preface each section and story to assist the reader in placing a context. The stories themselves transport the reader to greater understanding than what a mere discerning of the academic history of the era could ever disclose; they impart color, humor, and rustic homily of this highly romanticized era.”—Utah Historical Quarterly
“A rousing example of scholarship that happens when authors respect their subject matter. In convincing fashion, they celebrate, instead of evaluate, the legacy of these Western soldiers of fortune. Valuable contributions to the study of Western history and literature.”—Journal of the West
About the Author
James H. Maguire is professor of English at Boise State University.
Peter Wild is professor of English at Boise State University.
Donald A. Barclay is coordinator of electronic services for the University of Houston Libraries.
Product details
- Publisher : University of Utah Press; First Edition (June 18, 1997)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 392 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0874805392
- ISBN-13 : 978-0874805390
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Item Weight : 1.34 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,244,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,378 in Folklore & Mythology Studies
- #43,989 in U.S. State & Local History
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Donald A. Barclay has been an academic librarian since 1990, holding library positions at New Mexico State University, the University of Houston, the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center, and the University of California, Merced. His interests in librarianship include the history of print and digital information, the role of information in the Digital Age, and the evaluation of information. At UC Merced he was instrumental in planning the library for the first (and, to date, only) new U.S. research university of the twenty-first century.
During his career Donald has published numerous books and articles on such topics as fake news, library construction and maintenance, library management, and the literature of the American West. His books include:
--Fake News, Propaganda, and Plain Old Lies: How to Find Trustworthy Information in the Digital Age
--Serving Online Customers: Lessons for Libraries from the Business World
--The Library Renovation, Maintenance, and Construction Handbook
--Into the Wilderness Dream: Exploration Narratives of the American West, 1500-1805
--A Rendezvous Reader: Tall, Tangles, and True Tales of the Mountain Men, 1805-1850
Besides working as a librarian, Donald has taught college English and worked as a fire fighter on a U.S. Forest Service hotshot crew.
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The "Reader" consists of 151 brief excerpts from mostly contemporary writings. Here for example is William Ashley's 1822 advertisement for "ONE HUNDRED MEN, to ascend the Missouri River to its source." One of the respondents was Jim Bridger. There are writings here from painters Alfred Jacob Miller and George Catlin, historian Francis Parkman, writer Washington Irving, and by the Mountain Men themselves: tall tales from the likes of Joe Meek and Black Harris, the story of John Colter's amazing flight from the Blackfeet, Hugh Glass's encounter with a grizzly, and Kit Carson's amazement when he encountered a Dime novel in which he himself "was represented as a great hero, slaying Indians by the hundred." Each section of the book has an informative introduction from the editors.
The selections run the full range of topics from fiction to what the Mountain Men wore, how they trapped beaver, and their sometimes violent, sometimes connubial relations with the Indian tribes they encountered. It's a good book to page through looking for interesting selections. You'll find many.
Smallchief