Blood and Thunder - Hampton Sides

NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the author of Ghost Soldiers comes an eye-opening history of the American conquest of the West-"a story full of authority and color, truth and prophecy" (The New York Times Book Review).

In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to
invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology
of "Manifest Destiny," this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between
the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath
of mountainous desert wilderness.

At the center of this sweeping
tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend.
Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western
tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately
devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades,
this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won.