Best known for his epic trilogy Ballad of the West, Bridger, a descendent of frontiersman Jim Bridger, became interested in the relationship between Buffalo Bill Cody and the Indians while completing the section on Cody in Ballad. That relationship is supposed to be at the heart of this book, but instead Bridger has produced a "life and times" biography reminiscent of those popular a century ago-long on the times and short on the life. What is missing are the details, insights, and understanding that would make both Cody and Sitting Bull real people rather than figures on the stage of history. Bridger relies on a small number of secondary sources, chiefly Cody's own autobiography, Don Russell's The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill, and Stanley Vestal's Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux. Libraries already holding these books, as well as Nellie Snyder Yost's Buffalo Bill, His Family, Friends, Fame, Failures, and Fortunes, can safely pass on Bridger's book. However, it is entertaining to read in spite of a few glaring minor errors, and public libraries may wish to consider it.
Stephen H. Peters, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
True West, April 2003
"Bridger has penned an epic that should be on every reader's shelf..."
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