Customer Reviews

Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The movie "Jeremiah Johnson" found some of its inspiration and history in the true life adventures of John "Liver-Eatin'" Johnston. As tough as Jeremiah was, he can barely hold a candle to the tough mountain man who ate the livers of his vanquished foes.

The feats of survival, tracking, and hunting boggle the mind. While the authors draw from oral history (and perhaps have been taken in with some broad embellishments), the remarkable vengeance Johnston extracts from the Crow tribe for the death of his wife and unborn child is staggering. The Crows, troubled by Johnston's relentless vengeance, dispatch 20 warriors on a mission to find and kill the tribe's nemesis. Over a period that spanned over a decade the solitary Crows fall to Johnston. He killed them all.

This is not a book for the politically correct...the book originally appeared in the 1940s. Don't expect to confront descriptions of other races that include hyphens.

For those who have read the Dan O'Brien books, THE CONTRACT SURGEON and THE INDIAN AGENT, there is a reference to Valentine T. McGillycuddy. For fans of the HBO Original Series DEADWOOD, "Colorado" Charlie Utter warrants several mentions.

An interesting read for those who harbor any admiration for the real pioneers.

I suppose that most people find their way to this book through the movie,Jeremiah Johnson. It is a great film and one of Redford's best.
The book is a fascinating look at the real life model for Jeremiah Johnson, John Johnston. His story is essentially compiled from the oral tradition of the old west augmented by interviews with people who knew Johnston (or alleged to know him.)
Some of the stories are fantastic and should be taken with a grain of salt but it does suggest that only a very unusual(and dangerous)individual succeeded as a mountain man. The romantic notion of the old west is replaced by an environment that is hostile and unforgiving. The map provided is hand-drawn but gives a sense of what must have been involved for settlers attempting to cross that portion of the country.
I enjoyed this small volume very much and found it ironic that Johnston wound up being buried in a cemetery in Los Angeles (what an insult!)

Regardless of whether it is truth, legend, fiction, or myth, Crow Killer is a good read for those interested in the old west and the life of the mountain men. Much better and bigger than the movie (just as Johnson was much bigger than Redford) with vivid action and great descriptions of the times. Some people seem concerned with the lack of documentation, however word of mouth and story telling were the documentation methods of the times for red and white men alike. A good read. If you liked the movie you'll enjoy the book.

This little volume of what professes to be pure history contains the exploits, along with a good many stories that probably aren't true, of the Mountain Man John Johnson. Some of these stories are almost definitely true--Johnson's battle with the twenty Crow warriors over fourteen years, for example. Still, some of these tales are more than likely fictitious, made-up accounts passed on among the last Mountain Men until Thorp stumbled upon them.

For sources, Thorp has few, and they are second or third-hand at best. Most of them were old men who were trying to remember stories or `things they'd heard' a half-century before. Even Thorp's principal source, "White-eye" Anderson, was getting most of his information third-hand. Thorp proclaims his source as impeccable, but even he can't help but include, in the course of the narrative, that White-eye had a famous capacity for "story-telling."

So why give this any stars at all? Well, it IS fun to read. A lot of these stories are just plain entertaining, and Johnson's war against the Crows is based in fact (in fact, this account is probably fairly accurate). No matter what, you can get a good look at the late Mountain Man era by reading about Johnson (and his companions') exploits. Of course, sneaking up on Indians and massacring them does get quite dull even after less than two hundred pages, so fortunately this book isn't longer.

All in all, this is an entertaining read. It isn't written very well, and the author's attempts at dialect are horrendous, but it is still a lot of fun. Just bear in mind that this little book, history though it proclaims to be, is probably as much Mountain Man myth as anything.

I have read this book a number of times. Having grown up in Wyoming, I am familiar with much of the country and many of the people described in the book. Opening this book is like going home all over again. This is not an "historical novel" but a retelling of actual events that reads better than any fictional adventure story. The best part about the book is that it turns the giants of the American West into real people, with real foibles and follies. The mountain men weren't super heroes, but regular people living a hard and dangerous life. It's an excellent snapshot of the realities of frontier life, told by the people who lived there. Thank God Raymond Thorp interviewed these men before all knowledge of their lives passed into obscurity.

CROW KILLER by Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker

Interesting to note that Crow Killer was written in 1956 and first published in 1957. Despite the cruel depictions of battle, attitudes and man vrs man and nature; Bunker actually wrote nurturing prose about the Native Americans in Other Men's Skies and other publications.
Raymond Thorp was the mover and shaker in getting information and tracking down individuals involved in the Liver Eating Johnson saga. (He wrote about Black Widows and Jim Bowie's knife, as well.) There are pictures of him with Johnston's National Cemetery Stone in Sawtelle, California, of some of his weapons and areas in the Johnson arena while rambling after the real man. He spent a lot of time talking to veterans of the plains and mountains, many of them coming to Pasedena pastures to graze in arthritic old age. (Hard to move around in the cold crippled up.) Del Gue was the one
fella I could never find any historic facts about. Not even his name is mentioned anywhere. Others are looking as well.
White-eyed Anderson was another frontiersman. He was there, bunked and trapped with Johnston for a time and is now buried in California at Forest Lawn.

Robert Bunker was the actual writer; fleshing out the information that Thorp gave him. (I was fortunate to speak to and write him about this book over the years. Both have joined Johnston in eternal rest.) Together the authors have created a moving piece of folklore laced with truth about the frontier and this one man who was known to many in his time. Not mentioned is Johnston's considerable time as a whiskey peddler in Canada out of Fort Benton and his time with an 1884 wild west show along with Crow Indians, Calamity Jane, Curley, Hardwick, LeForge and many others.

He did not have a beef with the Crow. Oh, but he enjoyed beef livers with them at least once by some accounts....when there was an agency slaughter. It was the Sioux that was stirring the warpath soup. Johnston earned his moniker against them, shot them, poisoned them and generally distrusted them. He got along with the Crow. So here is the subplot of Crow Killer and the movie Jeremiah Johnson that was made in 1972. The Crow were after him.


The book was supposed to be a history. It is, but it is one of tall tales. In that, I would explain that after a day's work one would be laying or sitting by a good fire, full of buffalo rib and berries and perhaps a jigger of whiskey, enjoying a smoke or chew while each good-natured comrade is telling how it was and how it had been...Perhaps the best new book on this subject would be Dr. Dennis John McLelland's The Avenging Fury of the Plains John "Liver Eating" Johnston in that he debunks (sorry Robert) Crow Killer and explains the real man and times.

Johnston has been my research subject since I saw his cabin at Red lodge, Montana in 1969. ([...] I have heard all the tales of men in their cups, men on the range, men of boast, men of action and quite a few gals therein while traipsing the historical trails in search of Crow Killer. One such tale in the book has to do with the frozen leg escape, which is a good grisly one, but was actually done by one Boone Helm. Imagine my surprise to get a call from one of his direct descendants to add to my knowledge of the rowdy Helm brothers!

What I would direct readers to enjoy is the fable, the boast, the roar and chest-thumping of men who in reality had not much to do but survive and hold on to memories as they got feeble and needed an outlet for that mental energy pent up inside from those long ago hair raising exploits. It was not an easy life, conquering the west. And many did not get to rest out in pleasant climes like California, having an arrow, bullet, blizzard, bear, fallen boulder or lack of food make their day end--sometimes not very quickly.

Crow Killer is a good book to flavor that time, feel the hone of a blade, duck from a loud crack or wang of a bow string, smell the campfire, enjoy a good buffalo rib (online, if you want) and get some knowledge of survival and how those folks got along with their neighbors. Crow Killer must be on it's ninth printing by now--if not it will be.

As did most people who develop a fascination with Johnson, I "caught the bug" from the Robert Redford movie. It was not until some time later, however, when I inadvertantly vacationed in areas in which many of the events actually occurred, that I sought out the information on the "real" Jeremiah Johnson and found the book. I have read it cover-to-cover more times than I can count.

It depicts a coarse, violent life in terms uniquely appropriate to the stories it relates, and does a remarkable job at documenting what little can be documented of a life lived far beyond the bounds of places where such documentation even existed -- much less, mattered. The starkness with which the author relates his information does much more to convey what the real Johnson's life was like than a more esthetically-pleasing and smoothly literary version ever could.

Finishing the book leaves one wishing there was more -- wondering, for example, what could make a man such as Johnson seek out such a life, and wishing it were possible to read all of the actual research to which Thorp so frequently refers.

I don't consider myself an avid reader. If a book loses my interest for a moment, I may not finish it. I found "Crow Killer" difficult to put down. Can't remember why I bought this book but I am sure glad I did. I'm sure some of the tales are embellished a little but if you are interested in this subject at all, it's a must read. For me it really puts things in perspective. Reading this book makes one realize how easy most of us have it. It was not long ago that there was a much more durable people inhabiting the planet. Forced to deal with a unfriendly, harsh, wild environment. Either you were skilled at taking care of yourself or you perished. Johnson and his friends were a fascinating breed of men. This book is like a time machine and was therapeutic from the "don't sweat the small stuff" standpoint. After reading this I realize I have things pretty darn good.

Everything in this book is true. All the footnotes are flawless. It is written extremely well.

McAllister (the reviewer below)is an angry man who measures a man from 150 years ago, when it was kill or be killed, against his own angry Ward Churchill PC meter. Jeremiah Johnson was politically incorrect by today standards. Give McAllister a Doctorate for his insights. Also. show me who wasn't racist or politically incorrect 150 years ago. Spare me!!

By the way...the book was not flawlessly researched and in fact is probably not true at all. From what people seem to know about Liver Eating Johnson, you discover it is mostly third and fourth hand. Fun read anyway but not to be taken seriously. It's 2-3 stars for the fun of it. But my point is...don't you hate the "Rorscach" review?

This is an unusual book with lots of interesting stories but probably requires a specialty audience. The writing style is very different from your standard novel. It is a collection of stories taken down from people who were with John Johnson and then arranged basically in as cronological an order as possible or arranged by topic. For someone who is mountainman buff or is otherwise familiar with the historic time period, it is a great insight into the life and hardships of these men and women. One of the characteristics of many westerners was the art of understatement and that shows up in the retelling of these stories and so reading between the lines is helpful. As a history teacher, I enjoyed the book. If you are looking for a romantic extention of the movie "Jeramiah Johnson," this ain't it.