02141cam a2200373 4500 158475354 TxAuBib 20140423120000.0 060519s2006||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2006016579 9780385507776 hbk. 0385507771 hbk. 9780385507776 (OCoLC)70045754 TxAuBib Sides, Hampton. Blood and thunder : an epic of the American West / Hampton Sides. 1st ed. New York : Doubleday, 2006. xi, 460 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, but as is found in the best history, the same person might be both. At the center of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson—the legendary trapper, scout, and soldier who embodies all the contradictions and ambiguities of the American experience in the West. Brave and clever, beloved by his contemporaries, Carson was an illiterate mountain man who twice married Indian women and understood and respected the tribes better than any other American alive. Yet he was also a cold-blooded killer who willingly followed orders tantamount to massacre. Carson’s almost unimaginable exploits made him a household name when they were written up in pulp novels known as “blood-and-thunders,” but now that name is a bitter curse for contemporary Navajo, who cannot forget his role in the travails of their ancestors. 20140423. Carson, Kit, 1809-1868. United States Army History 19th century. Frontier and pioneer life West (U.S.) Indians of North America Wars West (U.S.) Indians of North America West (U.S.) History 19th century. Navajo Indians History 19th century. West (U.S) History 19th century. West (U.S) History, Military 19th century. United States Territorial expansion. Southwest, New History 1848- TXMOO