The Saga of Hugh Glass: Pirate, Pawnee, and Mountain Man --by John Myers Myers

Nonfiction / American History

237 pages / 2151 KB

5 stars

I was in elementary school when I first came across the story of Hugh Glass, and he immediately became one of my childhood heroes. I wanted to grow up and be a Mountain Man like Glass and Bridger, Colter and Meek. I was in fifth, possibly sixth grade when I came across a copy of Lord Grizzley by Frederick Manfred. By the time I read Neihardt's The Song of Hugh Glass I was an adult, and well aware I would never be a Mountain Man.

How I missed Myers' book, I'll never know, but thanks to the new movie, The Revenant, I did some research online and came across, bought, and read his book. If, perchance, you're looking for a dry, date, and fact-filled, history book, look elsewhere, please. Myers had a voice unique, and this book, though filled with facts and dates, is not dry. He explained how he found his sources, why he believed this one and not that one, and spun a history as captivating as any campfire yarn you could hope to read or hear.

If Hugh Glass had not had such an intimate introduction to Mama Grizzly, chances are we would never have heard of him, beyond a name in a ledger in one of the fur companies for which he worked. But Glass had that introduction, and against all odds, survived to tell about it. And to seek revenge on the two men (Jim Bridger and John Fitzpatrick) who abandoned him.  In Bridger's defense, he was a greenhorn, young, Glass was barely alive, and a war party of Indians was about. Besides, Fitzpatrick wanted to keep both his life, and Hugh's rifle.

If your only introduction to Hugh Glass is via the movie with Leonardo Di Caprio, then read the real story. Or as close as we'll ever get to the real story. This is an extremely entertaining book by an accomplished author. Well worth the time and money.