Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides

Anchor Books, 2007

Review by Arthur Scott

   This book is billed as “The epic story of Kit Carson and the conquest of the American West.”  The title comes from some of the “dime novels’ sold about kit Carson in the 19^th century. The cover somewhat gives that impression. However this book is very well researched with impeccable sources. Most are primary sources with a few verified secondary sources. The author states that he spent several years and travelled 20, 000 miles in his car from coast to coast. The narrative is long, 575 pages, but covers Carson’s life from birth his birth in Madison County Kentucky in 1809 to his death at Ft. Lyons, Colorado in 1868. This book is MUCH more than the story of Kit Carson, it is, on fact, a detailed history of the most tumultuous years of the US. This period includes President Polk’s imperialistic war with Mexico for the sole purpose of expanding US territory, the dragging of what is now New Mexico into the United States from Mexico, the Civil War, and the Indian Wars.