A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific -

Robert M. Utley

Holt Paperbacks

1998

400 páginas

13h 20m

ISBN-13: 9780805059892

Early in the nineteenth century, the mountain men emerged as a small but distinctive group whose knowledge and experience of the trans-Mississippi West exted the national consciousness to continental dimensions. Though Lewis and Clark blazed a narrow corridor of geographical reality, the West remained largely terra incognita until trappers and traders--Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Tom Fitzpatrick, Jedediah Smith--opened paths through the snow-choked mountain wilderness. They opened the way west to Fremont and played a major role in the pivotal years of 1845-1848 when Texas was annexed, the Oregon question was decided, and the Mexican War ed with the Southwest and California in American hands, the Pacific Ocean becoming our western boundary.
====
“Utley’s richly documented book is the definitive study of the decisive role mountain men played in the exploration and expansion of the Western frontier.”—Jay P. Dolan, The New York Times Book Review.

“The book, which reads like a well-spun novel, injects a wealth of historical detail and insight into an often misunderstood era of America’s past.”—Sierra Adare, Wild West.

[About the Author]: Former historian to the National Park Service, Robert M. Utley is the author of many distinguished works of history, including The Last Days of the Sioux Nation and the award-winning The Lance and the Shield. He lives in Georgetown, Texas.