Lions of the West, Robert Morgan
Lions of the West, Robert Morgan
List: $27.97 | Sale: $19.57
Club: $13.98

Lions of the West
Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion

Author: Robert Morgan

Narrator: David Drummond

Unabridged: 18 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/15/2011


Synopsis

Thomas Jefferson, a naturalist and visionary, dreamed that the United States would stretch across the continent from ocean to ocean. The account of how that dream became reality unfolds in the stories of Jefferson and nine other Americans whose adventurous spirits and lust for land pushed the westward boundaries: Andrew Jackson, John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman, David Crockett, Sam Houston, James K. Polk, Winfield Scott, Kit Carson, Nicholas Trist, and John Quincy Adams. Their tenacity was matched only by that of their enemies: the Mexican army under Santa Anna at the Alamo, the Comanche and Apache Indians, and the forbidding geography itself.
 
 Known also for his powerful fiction (Gap Creek, The Truest Pleasure, Brave Enemies), Morgan uses his skill at characterization to give life to the personalities of these ten Americans without whom the United States might well have ended at the Arkansas border. Their stories—and those of the nameless thousands who risked their lives to settle on the frontier, displacing thousands of Native Americans—form an extraordinary chapter in American history that led directly to the cataclysm of the Civil War.

About Robert Morgan

Robert Morgan is the bestselling author of numerous works of fiction-including the Oprah Book Club selection Gap Creek-and nonfiction, and is also an established poet with fourteen collections to his credit. Born in Hendersonville, North Carolina, he teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he is Kappa Alpha Professor of English.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian on November 13, 2017

Nicely done. Bordering on five stars. Morgan really invests the time at the beginning of the book to explain WHY this era and its participants are important, and not just for the trumpeting of American virtue or the flogging of American vice. Then, choosing to examine westward expansion through well......more

Goodreads review by George on October 20, 2012

Morgan sees most of these events through a modern PC filter. It's rather annoying to inpugn 2012 motives on early 19th century actions. Otherwise, an interesting read.......more

Goodreads review by Eric on March 14, 2021

I did not realize until I finished that the "Goodreads"/publisher blurb touts the quality of the maps, drawings, etc., that are a part of the written work. I really liked the audio version in spite of there being not a single graphic to which I turned. It is really quite a story that Morgan tells. I......more

Goodreads review by Colin on February 26, 2021

An interesting look at some of the men who were key players in westward expansion. I loved all the little details about the upbringing of the men, the overlapping narratives, and even the geeky details about various battles—and the military maneuvers involved. Didn’t know a lot about some of these fi......more

Goodreads review by Bholdsworth7 on October 22, 2012

Very enjoyable read about the heroes ( known and unknown) and absolutely abominable treatment of Native Americans during the period of westward expansion. From Jefferson to Davey Crockett to Johnny Appleseed to Kit Carson, a interesting mix of history and personal trials and triumphs for the men who......more