Dancing with the Golden Bear [Hardcover]

Win Blevins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2005

When the enigmatic Jedediah Smith, greatest of the mountain men, puts together a brigade of trappers for an expedition into the unknown territory of Mexican California , Sam Morgan joyfully joins up. With his Crow Indian wife Meadowlark and his coyote pup at his side, Sam sees the expedition as a chance for adventure -- and wealth.

Captain Smith leads the group south in search of the the Buenaventura, a great river believed to connect the Great Salt Lake to California, but when the river proves to be a myth, the trek toward the Pacific becomes a nightmare.

Like ghosts they struggle into the San Gabriel Mission in southern California and there recuperate, but the Mexican government eyes them with suspicion and Sam and his companions are forced to flee back into the Mojave.

When Meadowlark falls ill, Sam learns the poignant meaning of the words of his mentor, Hannibal McKye:

"Life is like a golden bear. It's magnificent, it's beautiful, and it bites."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Win Blevins has long since won his place among the West's very best." -- Tony Hillerman

"His gritty fiction brings to mind the the fur-trading novels of Frederick Manfred(Lord Grizzly, 1954) and Vardis Fisher(Mountain Man)." --Kirkus Reviews on Beauty for Ashes

"[An] entertaining, vivid portrait of frontier America as seen through the eyes of an impressionable youth."--Booklist on So Wild A Dream

"So Wild a Dream is a fabulous beginning of what promises to become a classic series that will be on college reading lists in history classes studying the fur trade era."
--Roundup Magazine

"Blevins possesses a rare skill in masterfully telling a story-to-paper. He is a true storyteller in the tradition of Native people."
-- Lee Francis, Associate Prof. Of Native American Studies, University of New Mexico


"One of the finest novels to come out of the American West in a long time...an amazing book, grandly conceived, beautifully written..."-- Dallas Morning News on Stone Song

About the Author

Win Blevins, an authority on the Plains Indians and fur-trade era of the West, is author of Give Your Heart to the Hawks, Stone Song, his prize-winning novel of Crazy Horse and many others including his Rendevous series that began with So Wild a Dream.

He lives in Utah with his wife Meredith, also a novelist.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765305755
• ISBN-13: 978-0765305756
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,138,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I came out of Missouri and Arkansas, of Irish, Welsh, and Cherokee heritage. After a whirlwind of colleges and jobs, I discovered that books are my calling, and I've written more than twenty, primarily about mountain men and Indian people. Though awards are less important than readers, I'm glad when they come, and was delighted to be named Writer of the Year in 2003 by Wordcraft Circle of Native writers.

I live with my wife Meredith, the novelist, in a remote corner of the canyonlands of Utah.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Dancing With the Golden Bear, December 2, 2011

By 

G. Whitesides "Mike" (Vegas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dancing with the Golden Bear (Rendezvous) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'll admit right off; I listened to audiotape of this book, and hated for it to come to an end.It is so rich and the characters extravagant and totally believable. Also a glimpse of life in Spanish California of the 1820's I'd never been exposed to.
Blevins is capable of expressing the most romantic, the warmest, also the cruelest emotions imaginable, and maintaining the perspective of his protagonist.
I only recently became acquainted with Blevins through his earlier BEAUTY FOR ASHES, and am hungry for more.

Definitely recommend to anyone wishing a view of life nearly two centuries back.

5.0 out of 5 stars great transaction, October 15, 2011

By 

Mary L. Morgan (Fort Madison, Iowa..USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dancing with the Golden Bear (Rendezvous) (Mass Market Paperback)

This arrived on time and as described. Thanks for making it so easy to find the books I want at the prices that I want.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice read, March 8, 2007

By 

Ronald E. Gieck "Justa Reader" (Rural Kansas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dancing with the Golden Bear (Rendezvous) (Mass Market Paperback)

Enjoyable journey and you gain a new view on the "fathers of the country"