Jim Bridger: Trailblazer of the American West

Name: Jim Bridger: Trailblazer of the American West
SKU: 7894
Availability: InStock

4.6 | 651 ratings

Price: 18.8

Last update: 01-10-2025

Top reviews from the United States

Clifford Greenwood

A Rocky Mountain Hunter for thirty years.

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2024

After spending many years hunting the Rockies I spent my last year's in and around the Bridger Teton area and Snake river area. This fabled mans name is prevalent in his old stomping ground. This book is also a revealing history of the migration to the west.

bg.basst.ers

What a superhero of American History - 100% recommend this read!

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024

I am more of an historical fiction reader, but this book reads just like a Burns documentary from public television. So much truth regarding the real history is learned from this book in regard to the settling of America. Stuff in this book textbooks won't even touch! Want an eye opener.... this is a great place to add to the real knowledge of American History!

Johnnie & marlyn walker

Good read

Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2023

This was a good book due to the subject. I felt it went way too far in to detail on certain information. Also, the author seemed to only be offended at certain actions of the settlers but seemed to justify barbaric atrocities committed by the Indians. Jim Bridger is a legend and hard to not to find him interesting.

Amazon Customer

A man who broke open the Wild West for the rest of us.

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2024

What I liked about the book is the many.many places of the west around the Rocky Mountains that are absolutely true. An example is Piers Hole west of the Teton Mountains. I have been there many times and in Jim Bridgers words you can fell it and picture it as you stand looking at the landscape.
What I did not like was the way the Army senior officers treated his advice even though it was proven right every time.

Avid Reader

Good read

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024

Excellent history of the early pioneers we call mountain men

phil13

awesome

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2024

I have not read a lot yet, will update later

Ian Lea

Best of the Bridger biographies

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2023

Living in Colorado and Wyoming most of my adult life, I have seen the Bridger name thousands of times but never really knew much about him. I devoured 5 biographies on the man and this is , by far, the best and most comprehensive. Unlike many historical figures who left letters and other documents, Bridger's is a unique story because he was illiterate. He left no "letters" to tell his story.
The book seems incredibly well researched and is well written for the non academic historian. One of the best books that I have read this year. AN EXCELLENT READ on an, otherwise, elusive character of the old west.

John Berry

A Mountain Man Lost to History!

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2021

This book was very frustrating but yet I finally found it interesting. The 1st hundred pages or more was very difficult to follow any kind of flow. Also, things were mentioned in the book but not explained. In many cases one could accurately guess and once followed up with Google one could figure it out. For example a Fort Fetterman was mentioned after Fetterman was killed near Fort Kearney. And yes one can figure out a Fort was named after Captain Fetterman and of course after he was killed. However the author had me thinking Bridger had just left Fort Kearney so clearly time had passed. The editing was rather bad also. Not to the point of being distracting but I noticed it and I am no editor.

Having said all of this, I couldn't put the book down after I got past those 1st hundred pages or so. The real tragedy is that Jim Bridger was illiterate so his ability to log his travels for prosperity was lost to history. To that end the author did a fantastic job of researching dates and times of his travels. With that information and family history the story has been reconstructed. I would have loved to seen maps showing where the story was taking place. I would be thinking Bridger was in one location but after Googling I realized the story had moved on.

The only reason I rated it low was because of the time I spent trying to figure out where he was at any particular time.

I can still recommend reading this book because the story was so interesting and oddly, I have been surprised by how many of my friends had never heard of Jim Bridger. He clearly knew every piece of the Western Mountains and was responsible for paving our way west. So if the things I mentioned don't bother you, go buy the book and enjoy.

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