Crow Killer, New Edition: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson - Softcover

Thorp Jr., Raymond W.; Bunker, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253020832 ISBN 13: 9780253020833

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2016

Synopsis

The movie Jeremiah Johnson introduced millions to the legendary mountain man, John Johnson. The real Johnson was a far cry from the Redford version. Standing 6’2" in his stocking feet and weighing nearly 250 pounds, he was a mountain man among mountain men, one of the toughest customers on the western frontier. As the story goes, one morning in 1847 Johnson returned to his Rocky Mountain trapper’s cabin to find the remains of his murdered Indian wife and her unborn child. He vowed vengeance against an entire Indian tribe. Crow Killer tells of that one-man, decades-long war to avenge his beloved. Whether seen as a realistic glimpse of a long ago, fierce frontier world, or as a mythic retelling of the many tales spun around and by Johnson, Crow Killer is unforgettable. This new edition, redesigned for the first time, features an introduction by western frontier expert Nathan E. Bender and a glossary of Indian tribes.

About this title

About the Author:

Raymond W. Thorp is author of Bowie Knife and Spirit Gun of the West: The Story of Doc W. F. Carver, among other titles.

Nathan E. Bender is an independent scholar and consultant in Laramie, Wyoming, who has written extensively on the Old West.

Review:

"... [Johnson] emerges as flesh and blood, with the emphasis on blood. His story is the material from which grand opera might be made."

(Saturday Review)

"Spectacular to repellent, this is a part of Western life as it must have been..."

(Kirkus Reviews)

"It’s a robust story, almost incredible―a saga of hardship, cruelty and terrible dangers through which John Johnson, tough and shrewd as he undoubtedly was, did not emerge unscathed. This is the stuff of folklore at its authentic best."

(New York Times Book Review)

"... warrants a place on any shelf of Western Americana."

(San Francisco Chronicle)

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0253020832
• ISBN 13: 9780253020833
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208