Jedediah Smith: No Ordinary Mountain Man

That statement holds true to a great man. Did Jedediah Smith have flaws, yes he did. But he was a man, who made no compromise and did not think he was better than anyone else, regardless of there skin or class background. He even freed a Black slave of his, when the man's porcupine was stolen by Joe Meek and no one was willing to turn in a white man for a black man. Jedediah Smith was true Christian man, by both name and by action and was no hypocrite. He was a missionary as many people today believe he was, perhaps not in the way we like to think, but in my opinion he was a true Christian missionary in the he lived, how treated people and how he carried himself. That is what God expects of us today. I commend Mr. Barbour for this fair and balance biography of a great man, who died too soon.

The book, overall, was an interesting read. I especially enjoyed the way in which the author molded original mountain men's journal entries and verbage into his writing. This makes it easier to put yourself among the characters and draw more from their stories. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the amount of facts pertaining to the different trapping companies and government policies, however, without this tedious information the reader may miss the bigger picture of the consequence and/or reward of the mountain men sagas and the effect that they played in forming this great country in which we live.

I find myself not wanting to give this a high rating although I read through the book at breakneck speed that I normally only use for fantastic reads. The author presented the facts intelligently without excessive bias. I love it when a mountain man biographer takes the time to personalize the Indian tribes or individuals when possible so you get a deeper sense of all parties involved in the confrontations, which this author did. If you are a history buff with no desire for the romantic annotations then you might like this book.

I enjoyed this book VERY much. Read it cover to cover. I find it funny on here how people by a history book about a particular person or event, then complain and give it one or two stars because it was a detailed HISTORY book about that person or event (go figure). If you want to know the life of Jedediah Smith, his travels, experiences, good, bad and detailed, then this book is for you!

Really enjoyed the well researched historical narrative

This book was interesting, but frankly it drones on and on about things other than Jed Smith. True, this book does provide the reader with LOADS of historical context, big picture, and small picture chain of events but neglects its subject too much. I have not yet found a better alternative for those interested only in Jed Smith.

Very good. Good detail of Jedadiah. My GGGG uncle David Jackson was his partner and I wish they had a little more of his interaction with Jedadiah because he never kept a journal like Jed did. But I thought it was very good, I couldn't wait to finish it.

A well written, interesting read. The author has a comprehensive list of sources and I appreciated the index with links in the kindle version.

was a gift for hubby He loved it!