Dance on the Wind: The Plainsmen [Mass Market Paperback]

Terry C. Johnston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

The sequel to Dance on the Wind continues the saga of the adventures of Titus ""Scratch"" Bass, a nineteenth-century Kentucky farm boy who becomes a frontiersman along the Ohio River. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fourth in Johnston's series of historicals about mountain man Titus Bass (after One-Eyed Dream), this entry goes back to Titus's youth, in the early 1800s. The opening pages, covering the future legend's years as a Kentucky farmboy, move slowly as Titus debates whether to run away from home. The story picks up speed, plot and action when, restless and hungry for adventure at age 16, he finally does, joining the jolly crew of a flatboat carrying cargo from Cincinnati to New Orleans, a dangerous 1000-mile trip down the majestic Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Handy with a long rifle, pistol and knife, Titus survives Indian attacks, barroom brawls and highway robbery, leaving few opponents upright. When not slugging, shooting and stabbing, he expends his remaining teenage energy as a randy-and not too particular-backwoods Lothario. After his successful trip downriver, Titus still dreams of going west to see the far mountains, plains and buffalo. Then, abruptly, Johnston puts the brake on the pace and rhythm of his story by having his hero languish in St. Louis as a blacksmith until he is 30. The novel's final hundred pages are as dull as the first hundred, as Titus makes horseshoes, gets drunk and listens to others tell tales of the mysterious West. Still, the historical and geographic descriptions are vivid, as are the many hearty and colorful characters. Hopefully, the next Titus Bass book will find both the mountain man and his creator busy with the action that each handles so well.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

One of frontier novelist Johnston's most popular characters has been Titus Bass, the protagonist of a trilogy that began with Carry the Wind (1982). Here, in the first installment of a new series, we move backward in time to Bass' youth. It's 1810, and young Titus feels the age-old pressure to honor the family vocation--in his case, farming--but the prospect of life behind a mule makes the young man queasy. Finally, faced with an angry father who can't tolerate his son's dreamin' ways, the 17-year-old Titus sets out for the horizon. After joining up with a group of river rats, Titus quickly finds the adventure he seeks but along with it comes the sobering realization that on the frontier your friends can get hurt and even die. Johnston is a deservedly popular western author whose appeal lies not so much in the adventures he dramatizes as in the depth of his characters. They love, grieve, laugh, and feel guilt, anger, and jealousy. They're real people, not just providers of vicarious thrills. Wes Lukowsky --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553572814
• ISBN-13: 978-0553572810
• Product Dimensions: 4.7 x 1.1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #64 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > History > World > General

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wagh! The wait is over, Ol' Scratch is finally back., December 11, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Dance on the Wind (Hardcover)

The authors research and knowledge of the period is excellent. Page by page you get the opportunity to become Titus Bass and live his story from the moment he's born to when he's finally only a small step from living his dream of seeing and hunting the, "buffalo" of his grandfathes' tales. It has been far to long a wait for this next chapter in the life of Ol' Scratch. For the reader who has an appetite for more, you can join Titus again when he finally ventures out onto the plains, and learns the way of the mountain men, by reading, "Buffalo Palace", which is, thankfully, currently available. The bad news is that after reading, "Buffalo Palace", we'll have to wait for the third book in this trilogy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dream Interrupted, June 26, 2005

By 

David L. Morris - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dance on the Wind: The Plainsmen (Mass Market Paperback)

Know someone who started out on a quest and never made it?

There are two things about this book that I got caught up in. First, the description of the life of those who rode the flat boats down the Ohio and on down the Mississippi. I learned a lot about a way of life I was barely conscious of and it opened up a whole new area of interest for me.

Second is how sidetracked one can get in life. People don't always reach their destination on the first, second or even third try. And a lot of times, for those who risk, they don't ever make it. People make mistakes, they screw up, and sometimes they give up. The course of one's life is rarely a straight path and this book is about as good an account of that as your likely to find.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It takes the circle!, May 10, 2000

By 

Concerned Parent "Concerned Parent" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dance on the Wind: The Plainsmen (Mass Market Paperback)

This book by Terry Johnston is like all his others (and I have them all), excellent! Terry has a unique gift in his telling of the history of the mountain men of the Rocky Mountains. He brings them to life in a remarkably vivid fashion and his readers leave each book with a sense of awe and anxiety in waiting for his next publication to hit the shelves. "Dance on the Wind" is well worth your time and as is typical of a Johnston novel, you'll have a hard time waitin' for the next one. Read it!