Winfred BlevinsRezensionen

Good account of the mountain men during the heyday of the fur trade in the American West. More of a character study of several men and of the time. Not an exact history.

Excellent historical fiction on the life of Crazy Horse.

Why I bailed on this one - As another reviewer said, this is not a book to curl up with and read cover to cover and since it was a Amazon borrow or Amazon lending or whatever it's called, I decided to return it. It would be better to buy a cheap second hand copy and read it whenever the mood strikes.

The life of His Crazy Horse and his spirit animal, Hawk. Sobering look at how the Whites usurped the Indians by repeatedly promising things and not fulfilling them. Sad to see the end of a civilization. He was eventually betrayed by a lying translator and died at age 37.

Part fiction, part history, Win Blevins' book shines in one of the rare, unimpeachable periods of American history. The American rawland of the West is evoked beautifully ("God's finest sculpturin's to roam in" (pg. 166)) and its characters, the larger-than-life mountain men, were, as Blevins notes on page 291, quite often white men who adopted Indian ways rather than enforcing the reverse. The vitality of the land breathes through the pages of the book.

Give Your Heart to the Hawks works better as fiction than as history; as history, it is often dry in the telling, despite some fascinating interludes regarding mountain craft and sexual relations with squaws, among other things. But Blevins is open-hearted about this, stating from the off that he is primarily concerned with history "as a rendering of felt experience" rather than dates and abstract causes (pp17-18). In this, he is very effective, particularly early on in the book, and the reader gets the dirt of the West under their fingernails, and feels the cool of a mountain stream and the warmth of a buffalo skin and the thwack of a Blackfoot arrow.

Having established its literary quality, the book loses its way in the middle before returning with a brief flourish at the end. But it never loses its sense of immersion, and Blevins buys into it completely. For example, on page 71 one mountain man wants to make a map of the West and "have it published back in the States"; the reader realises with a start that this land is not yet considered a part of the USA. It is unexplored territory. If you accept the book's inherent eccentricity, Blevins will take you on a journey.

This is the second book of Win Blevins' 6-part "Rendevous" series about the mountain men, trappers and Indians living across the North American frontier during the 1820s and 1830s, when the whites who ventured west of civilization were adventurers, before the days of homesteading and land rushes brought hoards of whites into Indian lands. Young Sam Morgan, who left his family home in western Pennsylvania and traveled west in the series' first book, So Wild a Dream, has now made his name among his compatriots as a trapper, fighter and survivor. What's more, he has spent time with the Crow Indians and learned their ways, as well. Beauty for Ashes continues Morgan's progress in all these directions, and adds for him a love interest, the Indian girl, Meadowlark.

Blevins tells a very good story, and his obviously very deep knowledge of and extensive research into the way of life he is describing here, both Indian and white, informs that telling in satisfying ways. There are times when the story slows to a crawl as we instead get detailed descriptions of processes like beaver hunting and sweat lodges. These are fascinating and well described, although I admit there were times when I was ready for the action to resume. The characterizations are fun, if not very nuanced, other than our man, Sam, who does have some depth to him.

All in all, I recommend these books to anyone with an interest in the time and place. Blevins really does do a good job of bringing us there.½

So Wild a Dream is, as described by Blevins in his afterword, "the first of the (six-part) Rendezvous series, which tells the tale of the fur trade of the American West from its optimistic beginning in the early 1820s to its fading in the late 1830s, when westward immigration began."

So, wow, between Voss and Wilderness Trek and now this book, I've read three books this year that take place on journeys across the wilderness, the first two in Australia and now west of St. Louis in the early 19th century. Plus I finished up last year reading about 19th century travels in the mountains of Washington State via Jonathan Evison's West of Here.

Well, anyway, So Wild a Dream is detailed and well written, if a bit slow getting going. Young Sam Morgan leaves his family's Pennsylvania farm to follow his dream of seeing the wild country of the continent. He soon falls in with an assortment of colorful characters who help him learn the ways of the world. A few chapters later, Sam is, indeed, off on a trapping expedition deep into Indian territory.

Throughout, Blevins' narrative is detailed and engaging, with action galore and quite vivid accounts of the lifestyles of both the trappers and the Indian tribe they encounter. Gratifying descriptions of the physical environment complete the experience. In all, we believe we are in the hands of a writer who knows what he's talking about. On the books's inside back cover, Blevins is described as "an authority on the Plains Indians and fur trade era of the West." This seems a believable claim, given the depth of the writing, here. Blevins is not the greatest at creating a full-dimensioned protagonist, but Morgan's character is well enough drawn to carry the action.

Another great story from Win Blevins. Lots of late 1800s western-movement historical value woven into the story as well as the societal problems of racism and human trafficking. I enjoyed the book.

Give me a historical mystery set in the American Southwest and I am a happy reader. Add in real folks like Frank Lloyd Wright and John Wayne and I am over the moon. Of course it helps that the writers know the area and the customs of the Navajo and Ute nations know how to write well.

Yazzie Goldman is three-quarters Navajo and one-quarter Jewish. He works as security on the railroad but when the book starts he and his wife have been vacationing in Chicago. Even though he is off duty when he sees a tough guy hassling an old man he intervenes. Turns out the old man is Frank Lloyd Wright and he is on his way to Taliesin West in Scottsdale with the plans for the Guggenheim Museum on his person. The tough guy hassling him is muscle for a gangster to whom Wright owes twenty thousand dollars. Yazzie agrees to protect Wright all the way to Scottsdale but little does he know that will bring not just gangsters but the FBI (who think Wright is unAmerican) and unscrupulous architects after the Guggenheim plans into his life. Trying to get away from all these interests Yazzie takes Wright on a road trip up to Monument Valley where John Ford is shooting Fort Apache. John Wayne is one of the stars and he is interested in Wright. That comes in handy when all those people after Wright show up on the movie set.

I am a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright although I have never been in any of his buildings. I hope to rectify that soon by touring Taliesin West when we are next in Arizona. Meantime I have another book about Wright, Loving Frank, on my bookshelf and I am looking forward to reading that soon. I also really liked this detective. There is an earlier book, The Darkness Rolling, which I want to read and then I will be seeking out more books I suspect.

I love Monument Valley. I've stayed at Goulding's Lodge where the stars and film crews stayed while filming so many classic Westerns back in the 1940s and 50s. I've had a Navajo guide take me through not only Monument Valley, but the lesser known (and equally impressive) Mystery Canyon. I was thrilled to see that a new mystery series was set here during its Hollywood period.

The Blevins use this glorious setting to excellent effect and manage to blend in some Navajo traditions as well. The distances involved in bringing in supplies and My Darling Clementine's stars show how remote the area is. In fact, Yazzie gets to travel on the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe's Super Chief and stay at the fabulous Fred Harvey hotel La Posada in Winslow in order to pick up actress Linda Darnell and take her to where the filming is being done.

But it's with Linda Darnell that the book frayed around the edges a bit for me. I've read many historical mysteries, and quite a few of them have historical characters. I normally don't have a problem with that, but I did with the role Darnell plays in this book. I won't go into detail here, and I'm sure the Blevins did their research, but Darnell's characterization just plain made me uncomfortable.

The best secondary character by far is Moses Goldman, and it's easy to see why Yazzie loves him so much. I cheered Moses on in several of his scenes.

Unfortunately other than as a foil for the other characters, Zipilote doesn't really work as a killer for me-- much too one-dimensional. But then... I suppose most homicidal maniacs are.

I like Yazzie, a young man who's half Navajo, half Jew. He wants a "big life" but he still remains level-headed. His time as shore patrol for the Navy has given him a good background in investigating, and he needs it here because when things go wrong-- since he's the Indian in the middle of a bunch of famous white people-- he's the person who gets all the blame. He's also the man who gets all the women in this book, and his second relationship moved so quickly that I'm wondering how well it's going to fit in with the series.

For yes, this is going to be a series, and even though I'm not thrilled with some of the characterizations, I like the main character, and I'm still in love with the setting. I'm looking forward to the next installment.½

Although Crazy Horse is considered one of the greatest warriors of the Lakota Nation, I knew very little of his actual life. In Stone Song: A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse, Win Blevins attempts to shed some light on the life of this man. Authentically detailed, this intimate look at such a fascinating figure of history tackles both his personal life and how his legend developed.

As a young boy, Curley, as he was called, was always different. An inward looking, quiet child he held himself separately, causing some to resent him and others to expect great things of him. His vision was one of isolation and sacrifice. Unfortunately this vision both raised him to a prominent position in the tribe but also wreaked havoc in his personal life. Although shunning the spotlight, “Our Strange Man’ as his people called him, grew to be a person of great influence and people often followed his choices. While the author examines the many sides of this complex man, he also never forgets to supply the historical details of the time and place that Crazy Horse lived in. We are totally immersed in culture of these people, their social customs, warring factions, and the rising anger at the broken promises of the white people that will eventually lead Crazy Horse and his people to the banks of the Little Big Horn River.

I now feel I have a greater understanding of this well known historical character. The author manages to take the facts that are known and bring them richly to life, breathing emotion and spirit into his story. I would highly recommend Stone Song: A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse to those who would like to read about a genuine Native American hero.

Why this was in the SciFi/Fantasy section of the bookstore is a bit of a mystery, but where else would you put it, I suppose. This tale of Native American life and coming-of-age is set in the time before the Europeans came and is a retelling of a Cherokee legend. The writing is a bit on the simplistic side but the tone is consistent and the magical elements are rendered in an effective, matter-of-fact way. I initially picked it up from the shelf to determine which was the author's name and which was the title.

Heaven Is A Long Way Off by Win Blevins is the fourth book in his series about mountain man, Sam Morgan. In this book, Sam, still recovering from the death of his wife, makes a perilious journey back to California in order to rescue his infant daughter, and his brother and sister-in-law. The group makes their escape to New Mexico and while wintering in Santa Fe, Sam meets and falls in love with a beautiful Spanish widow.

Come spring though and he feels he must leave to take his daughter back to the Crow Indians and introduce her to her grandparents. Knowing he is not welcome there as he and Meadowlark ran off to be married against her parents wishes, Sam still wants his daughter to grow up among her large extended Crow family. He plans on leaving his daughter to be raised by her grandparents while he goes back to fur-trapping.

As this is an on-going series, the storyline was left hanging, and even though after four books I am getting a little tired of this series, I will probably continue on and read the last two books. This particular book was just ok, as it was completing the California storyline and setting a few plotlines in place for the next book.

Excellent other than a bit slow-paced. Tells the live of His Crazy Horse along with a lot of Lakota culture.

I'd say this OK, something worth reading if you love Westerns. It's decently written, well above the pulp style of a Louis L'Amour, but not exactly literature. I do like the whimsey of a Western with allusions to Cervantes and Shakespeare.

This is the story of the (mis)adventures of Tal Jones (Silk) and Ronald Smythe (Shakespeare aka "Hairy"). It's set in the American West around 1830, in the territory of the Crow and Cheyenne Native American tribes. Silk is just sixteen and on his own since his father deserted him. He rescues Shakespeare from a grizzly stalking him and they become friends and partners. I do appreciate in a Western the attempt at a light touch, but Shakespeare is just too stupid to live, and for me their escapades lost their humor when it resulted in the killing and scalping of a Cheyenne whose horse they steal to impress a woman.

There are also two fascinating historical characters depicted, who'd each be worthy of a novel of their own. There's James Pierson Beckworth, a Virginia-born "mulatto" who had become a Crow chief, and Pine Leaf--a woman warrior of the Crow. I do like how Native Americans are depicted in this novel. Too often I cringe at literary depictions of them--they tend to be depicted either as animalistic brutes, or stiff and noble mystics, while here they do come across as people.

Somehow though, this just isn't strong enough in the story or writing for me to really want to recommend to a friend, keep on my bookshelf, or look up more by this author. Although it did hold me to the end--it's a short, quick read, so someone more enamored of the Western genre may find it engaging.

I did not actually finish this book. Even after a good deal of effort, I could not really get into. Such is life at times.

Part of a mediocre series about the American Mountain men. Definatly have to read previous books to keep up with plots. Historical accurate.

I have enjoyed reading through this dictionary, but I have found it to have some errors and omissions. For instance, the entry for "Hell's half acre" does not mention that this term was applied to the red-light district of Fort Worth, TX. It also mentions that the term "gun" was not applied to handguns, but only to cannon. There are instances in the literature of the period to disprove this. Overall, the dictionary is a fun read and a good way to introduce oneself to the terminology of the American West, both new and old, but as with anything else, one must do one's own research to verify the accuracy of the information found within it.

Psychopath. No.