Now let us discuss how poorly the book was written. None of it is or can be substantiated and Meyers is not a historian. One or two of those events… I can buy but after he escapes death NUMEROUS times I have to call BS. The whole thing smacks of the bragging of a delusional mountain man. Meyers spends the first pages of the book trying to make the case that Hugh Glass existed. Then he joins some trappers, gets attacked by a bear, is left for dead, recovers, gets attacked by some indians some more… blah blah blah on and on and on. He escaped only to be captured by the Pawnee and at the moment he is going to be killed, he is adopted as the chief’s son. This is supposedly the biography of a man named Hugh Glass who was captured by pirates and forced into servitude. This is an extremely entertaining book by an accomplished author. Or as close as we'll ever get to the real story. If your only introduction to Hugh Glass is via the movie with Leonardo Di Caprio, then read the real story. Besides, Fitzpatrick wanted to keep both his life, and Hugh's rifle. In Bridger's defense, he was a greenhorn, young, Glass was barely alive, and a war party of Indians was about. And to seek revenge on the two men (Jim Bridger and John Fitzpatrick) who abandoned him. But Glass had that introduction, and against all odds, survived to tell about it. 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. 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. Myers had a voice unique, and this book, though filled with facts and dates, is not dry. If, perchance, you're looking for a dry, date, and fact-filled, history book, look elsewhere, please. ![]() 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. 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. I was in fifth, possibly sixth grade when I came across a copy of Lord Grizzley by Frederick Manfred. I wanted to grow up and be a Mountain Man like Glass and Bridger, Colter and Meek. I was in elementary school when I first came across the story of Hugh Glass, and he immediately became one of my childhood heroes. His book is highly recommended reading for anyone who loves stories of amazing true adventure told well. It is a style perfectly suited to his subject and a charming change of pace from the ordinary. His prose is loaded with colorful phrases - "pickled in print", "throwing lead", "not a bet on which Lloyds of London would risk a confederate dollar" - these are typical of his style, a small sampling of his unique voice. His writing style is idiosyncratic, and resembles a grizzled old story teller spinning yarns around the fire. John Myers Myers researched his histories, but there’s nothing academic about his tale telling. Before launching into Hugh's story, Myers attempts to reasonably established that, though fantastic, the story you are about to read is true, not just another tall tale. Myers addresses this in the first section of his book, carefully assembling the remaining evidence, and building a powerful case for the veracity of the legend. Many historians had discounted this story as balderdash - nothing but the outlandish boasting of a blowhard's self-aggrandizement. ![]() After refitting with weapons and equipment, and before his wounds were fully healed, he set out into the wilderness alone once more to make an incredible solo winter journey to retrieve his precious rifle and take vengeance on the companions who had robbed and abandoned him. Yet Hugh, though horribly wounded, near death and weaponless, navigated over 300 miles of virgin wilderness back to a frontier outpost. Attacked and mauled to the point of death by a grizzly bear, he was left in the wilderness to die by companions who robbed him of his rifle, knife, tomahawk, flint, and nearly all the tools necessary for survival in the wild. The central tale of Hugh's legend is almost too fantastic to be believed. John Myers Myers' The Saga of Hugh Glass is an excellent attempt to rescue Hugh from the obscurity that he had faded into and restore him to his rightful place among American frontier legends. But with the coming of the 20th century, Hugh's legend faded into obscurity. His legend entered the lore of Indian tribes as well, where it was still being told many decades after his passing. His fame spread to the East, where his incredible story was told in the newspapers of Philadelphia. Mountain man Hugh Glass was a legend to his peers, many of them legends themselves.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |