The Trailblazers

The Old West #4

by Bil Gilbert

The old West The Trailblazers

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, American History, Westerns, Historical

236 pages, Leather Bound

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Pat Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those Time/Life books they used to advertise on TV in the sixties and seventies. I needed a book to read and I reached down and grabbed this one which is part of an entire set I was lucky to get from a friend who's father left it to him and he didn't want it. Basically it is a history of the people who explored the western end of the U.S., starting with Lewis and Clark, and ending with John Powell and others who explored the southwest. The US government was interested it taking what we have today for itself and wanted to know what was out there and what good it would do us. They wanted reports on mineral content, animal and plant life, Native American life, and topography for better routes for railroads or just paths to use economically for travel from east to west. If you have ever read a Time/Life book, you know that the writing is done in a readable fashion. There is humor, human interest, and lots of facts. There are also lots of illustrations and photos which speed up the page turning. For grabbing a book without even looking at the title, I liked this book pretty well. I even found a reference for a work written by one of the trailblazers which intrigued me enough to try and get it. It has his thoughts and some illustrations he did while exploring the west. For those of you interested, it is "Illustrations of the manners, customs, and conditions of the North American Indians" by George Catlin. This book I read said that his illustrations, which were drawn by him, not photos taken, are very well detailed and portray the Native Americans as noble in stature as opposed to primitive and savage. That description alone has me looking for the book. I liked this book enough to plan on reading the whole collection, including it in my other reading. I hope anyone who reads this review enjoys it, and that it isn't too long.

[spike marlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. As a Canadian I had little knowledge of the type of men who explores the American west. It was fascinating to read about the Lewis and Clarke expedition, the mountain men, the trailblazers and pathfinders, the tourists and scholars, and finally the important surveyors, both private and in the employ of the US Army. Such brave and courageous men, vain and self absorbed most of them were. Time-Life while tryst mg to be unbiased had a tendency to move to a more romantic description of these men and their accomplishments. This is the third volume that f this series that I have read and I can’t wait to read the next one.

[Bright Boy Books]

4 copies

[Thomas Fackler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some things have changed, but not much.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the more interesting books, from my perspective, in the Time-Life "Old West Series." The focus here is on the trailblazers, including the Mountan Men and early explorers.

The first entry makes sense--the Lewis and Clark expedition, supported by President Thomas Jefferson himself--to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. This is, of course, nowhere as detailed as "Undaunted Courage," the wonderfully detailed examination of their exploits. But there is enough detail to get a sense of what they did.

Then, there is the story of the Mountain Men and fur trappers, such as Jim Bridger, John Colter, William Ashley, and so on. Scouts and trailblazers are considered, such as Kit Carson, Jed Smith, Jim Beckworth, Joe Walker, and Zebulon Pike. Naturalists are included, too. The Pathfinder, John Charles Fremont is profiled. And on it goes.

If you want a little bit of information about a wide ranging set of "trailblazers," this book would be a good choice.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because it was the only book I could lay my hands on at a time when my library was on the floor of a horse trailer after we cleaned up after a house fire. It is actually a very good book on Western American exploration. It discusses many "trailblazers" that I have read about. I enjoyed reading Bill Gilbert's opinion of this subject. Gilbert was often more critical than the sources I have previously read probably because my sources were often biographies that glamorized and embellished the subjects.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one, was one of my favorites, of the Old West series, incredibly brave men that set out to discover our new country!