Crow Killer

After finishing The Real Wild West, and knowing that I was getting Massacre at Mountain Meadows for Christmas, I needed a quick read in between. I picked up Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker's Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson a few weeks back at the local used bookstore (COAS in Las Cruces; one of the best bookstores I have ever set foot in...) Both my dad and my brother had read it and told me a few things about it. The movie Jeremiah Johnson was loosely based on John Johnson (or Johnston), the character in this book. The book paints a much more gruesome tale than the movie does, however. Of course, it's hard to separate the myth from the reality in this book. It's more fiction than history, but at the same time it provides a romanticized version of the American West that people crave. It paints the mountain man as the last hurrah of the frontier, and the rest involved with the making of the west as mere "tenderfoots." Johnson is a larger-than-life character, not afraid of a fight, even with a grizzly bear. His nickname, Liver-Eating, stems from his call sign, that of eating the liver of Crow Indians he has killed in avenging his wife and unborn baby's death. It's a fantastic read, and of course has to be taken with a grain of salt, but what it is not disputed is that the Mountain Men were an essential piece in the making of the West, both real and mythical, and John "Liver-Eating" Johnson is not a man I would want to have on my bad side.

The Real Wild West

In between required reading for my classes, I was able to read The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West by Michael Wallis. This is the second book I have read by Wallis, the other being Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride. While not a professional historian, Wallis is a fantastic writer and his research is on par with that of a trained historian. He is best known for his work on Route 66, which he affectionately calls "The Mother Road." He lends his voice to the hit movie Cars, doing the voice-over for the sheriff of Radiator Springs. He is an amazing storyteller, and that is what he does best in The Real Wild West. Wallis examines the history of the 101 Ranch, a working cattle ranch in northern Oklahoma that would eventually bring the west to the world via a wild west show along the lines of Buffalo Bill. To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of the 101 Ranch prior to reading this book. I had not realized that there were so many wild west shows touring the nation and the world back in those days. Buffalo Bill had quite a bit of competition, as Wallis points out that many more besides the 101 Ranch show were also in action. The book focuses heavily on the line between the West of reality and the West of mythology. Wallis, while weaving his narrative of the 101 Ranch's history, examines many different characters in Western history and their connections to the ranch, which provides for some very interesting reading. He writes about a certain topic after each chapter, and honestly, I looked forward to reading them more than reading the actual chapters. I learned some very interesting things that I had not known before. While at times Wallis seems to exaggerate some things, he does provide good evidence for his claims, and for this he is commended. I plan to read some of his other works, and if they are as entertaining as this one, I will not be disappointed.