Jedediah Smith: No Ordinary Mountain Man (Oklahoma Western Biographies)
by Barton H. Barbour
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Book Summary Information
Author: Barton H. BarbourEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-05-08
ISBN: 0806140119
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Book Reviews of Jedediah Smith: No Ordinary Mountain Man (Oklahoma Western Biographies)
Book Review: A Valuable New Biography of One of the Great Mountain Men
Summary: 4 Stars
The latest installment in the University of Oklahoma's Western Biography series, this book tells the life of Jedediah Smith; one of major figures in the history of the fur trade. It is the first major new biography of Jedediah Smith that takes advantage of recently found documentation of Jedediah's time in Mexican California.
The book is very well written and spends time detailing Jedediah's background and the history of fur trading. The author also describes in detail Jedediah's contributions to the exploration of the West. Jedediah understood the geography of the West better than any man (Native, European or American) alive during his life. His explorations led him from what is now Glacier National Park all the way to southern California.
The author devotes most of the book to Jedediah's years in California (1826-1829). It is here that the author distinguishes himself from the other standard biography of Jedediah (Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West (Bison Book)). There is a rich treasure trove of new information about this time in Jedediah's life and the author does an excellent job of relating it.
The author is even-handed and does not idolize or demonize Jedediah. He plants Jedediah firmly in the milieu of his own time and lets the story unfold. It is obvious that Jedediah was a complex man and any attempt at simplification would be futile.
I do wish that the book talked more about Jedediah's life after he left the care of the Hudson's Bay Company. The last year or two of Jedediah's fur trading career are dealt with fairly quickly. And though it is true that nothing of major import happened to Jedediah during this time, it would still had been interesting to read more about Jedediah's explorations right before his untimely death.
I would not say that this biography supplants (but neither is it inferior to) Morgan's biography; but it certainly is a watershed book in the same way that Morgan's was. It is an important new biography and one that anyone who has an interest in the fur trade or Western exploration cannot afford to miss. You will enjoy this book!
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