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.In Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides gives us a
magnificent history of the American conquest of the West. 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. Back to top