If you think there are no really good places to cycle in the Midwest, this book will change your mind. Very detailed...everything you need to know, how to get there, how to find the trails, what to expect, etc.

I refer to this book ALL the time ... it is great! Steve Henry has done a tremendous job of giving you all the info you need to have lot of fun in the Ozark regions. A lot of the trails are ones I would have never found on my own. GREAT BOOK

This is not a review, but a question. Henry Christian Brown was my great-grandfather and this book was supposed to be for family members only. How could this book be published and sold without written consent from all Brown family members?

News Of The Plains And Rockies, 1803-1865: Original Narratives Of Overland Travel And Adventure Selected From The Wagner-camp And Becker Bibliography is the eighth volume in an outstanding series dedicated to western historical studies. David White is compiler and editor of this remarkable volume which includes a profusion of maps, tables, and facsimiles. In addition to an informative Preface and Afterword, the text is enhanced with appendices on travel rates, "Afoot in the Black Rock Desert", and "Wagons Over the Plains and Rockies". Presented with an impressive degree of scholarship and painstaking historical research, News Of The Plains And Rockies 1803-1865 is an essential, core reference title for college and university level American western history and academic studies collections.

History buffs will find a wealth of unique information by a writer with a special viewpoint and perspective on the nation's history. Many of these pieces have been long out of print, making them a special delight to find here. Ranging from Horgan's descriptions fo the hstory and landscape surrounding the Rio Grande to visits with Stravinsky, this is a complex, rich book. He makes history come alive, recreating the lives and souls of the people who lived before us.

With several editions of this book available, this review refers to the original 1920 publication. The book is an enjoyable and delightful account of Jedediah Smith and the men in his immediate circle who, over a period of eight years, explored and trapped the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific during the years 1823-1831. Although I did come across a few historical inaccuracies, this can be attributed to the fact that some documentation, letters, journals, etc. did not surface till later dates. For instance, James Clyman was with Smith during many of these exploits, and his "Journal of a Mountain Man" wasn't published until 1928. Dale Morgan's "Jedediah Smith And The Opening Of The West" which was published in 1953, gives the reader a more in depth study (with more historical documentation available at the time) into the character, achievements and defeats of this remarkable man. Neihardt's writing style is to be commended though, as he is very descriptive and expressive.

This book is wondrous. For openers, it is written so well that it is a marvel of English usage and will shame most of us that think we know the language. Secondly, it strikes a marvelous balance between pedagogy - for fundamentally this is a serious scholastic work - and the delight that the author takes in his subject.

Dealing with Thoreau to great degree, it shows how punning was a significant part of romantic literature, and should not be dealt with contempt, but rather as a serious and significant part of our literary heritage.

Plus the humor in both the the subject matter and Professor West's treatment thereof are incomparable. Highly recommended to both the scholar and the interested dilletante atracted to our language and its associated history.

Benjamin Grierson, a former musician with no prior military experience, is perhaps most famous for "Grierson's Raid", which served as a diversion during General Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign in the Spring of 1863. As the result of the famous raid and other service during the war, Grierson rose in rank from major to major general of volunteers. Unlike many other citizen-soldiers of the Civil War, however, he did not return to civilian life after the war. Instead, Grierson accepted a commission as a Regular Army colonel and was given command of the newly-formed 10th Cavalry Regiment. The 10th Cavalry was one of the four, along with the 9th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments newly formed "Colored" regiments of the U.S. Army, which had white officers and black soldiers. Grierson welcomed the opportunity to command a regiment which many other white officers would have regarded as potentially damaging to their careers. Not only did he command the regiment for a quarter of a century, but he continually defended his soldiers against the prejudice that was prevalent throughout American society at the time. Grierson's rather progressive thinking also extended to his dealing with American Indians. Though he and his men participated in many of the Indian wars of the Southwest, Grierson continually sought a more intelligent and humane solution to the Indian "problem". Much of what we now see as Grierson's virtues, however, came with a price to his career and to his family. For instance, Grierson's continual defense of his men certainly played a role in his not being promoted to brigadier general until three months before his retirement in 1890. Likewise, his family would suffer greatly during the frequent moves from one gruelingly inhospitable frontier Army post to another. At least partly as a result of his career choices, Grierson's relationship with his wife was frequently stormy and the military dynasty which he had predicted ultimately failed to appear. Though his wife bore him seven children, only four sons survived into adulthood. Of these surviving sons, three remained life-long bachelors, while only one married and produced any offspring. All of Grierson's children appear to have suffered, in varying degrees, from the manic-depression that was prevalent among his wife's family, and two of his sons would have to be institutionalized.

Benjamin Grierson, himself, emerges from this work as a tragic figure. He was a man who was ahead of his time on issues of racial tolerance and was punished, directly or indirectly, for his beliefs. Likewise, he witnessed financial catastrophe, disease, and mental illness destroy his family. In the end, the reader is left wondering if the old adage is really true, that "no good deed goes unpunished."

Smith is clearly an academian yet tackles some rather fun topics like Wild Bill Cody and the prototype American spaghetti western plot. Alongside in this book he recounts the many historical perspectives flawed in their historical accounts by the most famous writers of their time through the period of manifest destiny. Lastly, he takes on the romatic images of the homesteaders in a re-worked story of their evolution as pioneers showing the earliest prejudices from the east.

Ms. Fresonke opens up a whole new world for anyone who has ever read or teached on the writings of early American authors. A great new look at American literature without the classic restrictions laid down by stodgy traditionalists who ever look upon the limited outpourings of Emerson, Thoreau,etal, as the only ports of interest available to the reader. One can almost sense the spirit of adventure that must have prevailed over Lewis and Clark, Pike, etal., in reading of their contributions to American Lit., so nicely related here. Well done.