Bareback! [Hardcover]

Jerry Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1993

The author of Walking the Trail combines legends of original Pony Express riders and interviews with people he met on his travels by foot, horse, and canoe along the two-thousand-mile Pony Express Trail. 30,000 first printing. $30,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The ad in a San Francisco paper in 1860 read: "Wanted--young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 a week." The Pony Express was the advertiser, recruiting mail carriers to deliver mail in ten days from St. Joseph, Missouri, to San Francisco. Ellis ( Walking the Trail , LJ 9/15/91) retraced the route traveled by these daring riders. His book is laced with history and the personal adventures he experienced along the way. Ellis started out by riding with a wagon train heading west along the Oregon Trail; he also walked, rode horses, and canoed parts of the 2000-mile Pony Express route, taking three months and making many new friends along the way. The writing conveys the natural beauty of the West as well as the character of its residents. This would make a nice selection for public libraries.
- Thomas K. Fry, UCLA Libs.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ellis sets out along the old Pony Express trail on foot, carrying a backpack and looking for rides and friendship along the way. Without a horse or relief riders, the trip takes Ellis three months rather than the ten days advertised by the nineteenth-century mail delivery company. Musing both about the past and the present, Ellis travels with a wagon train for a spell, sleeps in a homeless shelter another night, and celebrates his arrival in California with a slice of pizza. Written in the present tense from diary entries, the story is full of a sense of discovery. Ellis' previous trip, recorded in Walking the Trail (1991), was a re-creation of the forced march his Cherokee ancestors took from North Carolina to Oklahoma. Denise Perry Donavin

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1st 1st Print edition (August 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385305869
• ISBN-13: 978-0385305860
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,729,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JERRYS BOOK TOUCHED A VERY DEEP PART OF ME, THANKYOU., December 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bareback! (Hardcover)

THIS WAS ONE OF THE MOST HEARTWARMING BOOKS I HAVE READ IN A LONG TIME. I FELT I HAD GOT VERY CLOSE TO JERRY BECOMING A SOUL MATE. I FELT A STRONG CONNECTION TO HIM AFTER READING THIS BOOK AS I HAVE BEEN GOING ON A JOURNEY OF MY OWN AND HAVE NOW COME HOME. HE GAVE ME THE DESIRE TO ALWAYS CONTINUE MY LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL LAND CALLED THE USA. I HAVE NEVER TRAVELED THERE BUT HOPE TO ONE DAY AND ENJOY THE PLACES AND TYPES OF PEOPLE HE HAD THE PLEASURE TO VISIT. THIS MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IN A REVIEW BUT IT IS MORE GRATITUDE FOR THE WONDERFULL ADVENTURE THAT HAS BEEN SHARED IN THIS BOOK AND THE BRILLIANT SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THANKYOU SO MUCH JERRY AND AMAZON COM.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I hoped for, November 25, 2008

By 

Nreader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bareback! (Hardcover)

If you're hoping to find a book about the history of the Pony Express, keep looking. The author's reflections focus mainly on his personal life and search for self. Several women encountered on the journey were described in detail, including the many warm and inviting looks that were sent the author's way. By the end of the trail, this pattern of welcoming and available women becomes almost comically repetitious. I did learn a few new facts about the Pony Express, but the folksy details I hoped for were lacking.