A Newer World: Kit Carson, John C. Fremont and the Claiming of the American West (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "THEY set out, fifteen men on fifteen mules, shortly after dawn on August 12, 1842, carrying two days' worth of food-dried buffalo meat, macaroni, and..." (more)
Key Phrases: camp dismal, dictated memoir, other mountain men, Kit Carson, New Mexico, Old Bill (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Unlike, in many ways, but forever joined, the figures of Kit Carson, frontier scout and soldier, and John Frémont, politician and bureaucrat, loom large in the history of the American West. Carson is remembered today as something of a dime-novel hero or as a villain responsible for the deaths of innocent women and children during the Long Walk of the Navajo. For his part, Frémont, famed in the mid-19th century, is all but forgotten.

Frémont was a complicated, flamboyant, and scandal-ridden figure whose quest for fame proved to be his undoing. David Roberts, the author of several popular histories of the West, describes Frémont's undeniable contributions to the growth of the American nation in A Newer World, a narrative account of the explorer's career in the West from the early 1840s to the advent of the Civil War. "Frémont's expeditions," Roberts writes, "were significant not so much for crossing land never before seen by Americans as for thrusting the Great West into the awareness of a nation hungry to expand. He was the classic example of the right man in the right place at the right time." So, too, was Kit Carson, the taciturn frontiersman who guided Frémont and saved his life on more than one occasion. Roberts's sympathetic but not uncritical tale of their crossed destinies puts human faces on two men lost to legend. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

Kit Carson (1809-1868) and John Fremont (1813-1890) are not generally regarded as a pair the way Lewis and Clark are in terms of exploring new territory. Indeed, Carson and Fr?mont are only teamed in two of the four expeditions recounted by Roberts in his stirring tale of the opening of the American West. But the author makes a strong case that the two explorers contributed as much as anybody to America's westward movement. Of the four expeditions described by Roberts (Escape Routes, etc.), a frequent contributor to Outside and other magazines, two are the most intriguing: Fremont and Carson's 1845-1846 excursion into California, which played a major role in the U.S. taking control of that territory from Mexico, and Fremont's 1848-1849 trek that began as a search for a railroad path through the Rockies, but ended in disaster. Roberts has such a tremendous feel for his subject that it is disappointing that he didn't devote more space to Fremont's role in California's Bear Flag revolt. But the ground Roberts covers captures the beauty and harshness of life on the frontier in a vivid and passionate style. The treatment of Native Americans during America's march west is another prominent story line: while Roberts is quick to criticize the nation's Indian policy, he puts it in the context of the times. With Carson and Fremont surrounded by a cast of colorful characters, Roberts delivers an engrossing story of a period in American history when explorers never knew what they would find around the next bend in the trail. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684834820
• ISBN-13: 978-0684834825
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #765,253 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Editor needed, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

David Roberts needs a strong editor, one who is not afraid to exercise some control. I love this topic, but after 100 pages I found it all too easy to put this book down. Two things made it less than stellar reading: (1) There is probably too much disjointed trivia (I say "probably" because some readers may want every word of it). The writing simply didn't flow for me. (2) Roberts should be taken to the woodshed for his pretentious vocabulary, such as using "punition" when "punishment" would be the appropriate word. This happens on every page. He reminds me of a very insecure professor I had who would say such things as "the largesse of the Greek theater," when he meant the "largeness." The goal of every writer should be to communicate, not to exhibit psuedo-erudition. PS: I taught my first college English class in 1967, so, yes, I have a little experience in these things.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wouldn't You Know, October 21, 2001

By	"naia1" (HI, United States) - See all my reviews

I'm beginning to think that one of Dave Roberts' favorite pastimes is debunking, or at the very least shedding new light on, old myths. He did a bang up job in "Great Exploration Hoaxes," and continues here with his examination of John Charles Fremont and Kit Carson.

Fremont, (in case you were like me and had no idea who he was), was a surveyor and leader of 5 expeditions into the west. His fame was due mostly to the fact that he was in the right place at the right time. He also had an industrious, wordsmith for a wife who turned his reports into interesting accounts of his journeys. These, when published, were instantly popular with a public that was just beginning to catch the Wild West Fever.

Nicknamed "The Pathfinder," Fremont actually did very little original exploring. Instead he followed the trails pioneered by the early mountain men who had crisscrossed the western frontier in search of beaver. Fremont's guide on these expeditions was Kit Carson.

Frankly, Kit Carson is by far the more interesting of the two men, and Roberts does a good job of reconstructing a personality which was by nature very private. His job was complicated by the fact that Carson was illiterate and disliked being in the limelight. Nevertheless his actions, which were recorded by many (including Fremont) speak eloquently about the man. This is a fascinating read for anyone who enjoys redisovering history through the eyes of a talented writer.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The real villain was General Carleton; not Kit Carson, April 28, 2000

By	Donald E. Clay (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

BOOK REVIEW A Newer World: Kit Carson, John C. Frémont, and the Claiming of the American West By David Roberts Simon & Schuster, NY, 2000, 304 pages, $25.00 hardback.

David Roberts, the author of A Newer World: Kit Carson, John C. Frémont, and the Claiming of the American West, traveled "virtually every step of their itineraries, by car and on foot" to deepen his understanding of four campaigns he selected to epitomize the two explorers' triumphs and failures. The four campaigns Roberts selected begin with the first Frémont expedition in 1842 with Kit Carson as his guide. Part Two of the book explores the roles played by Frémont and Carson in precipitating the conquest of California. In the third part, Roberts examines Frémont's disastrous fourth expedition in the San Juan Mountains without Carson serving as his guide. The forth and final segment of the book reveals the relationship between Carson and General Carleton during the Navajo conquest and confinement. Contrasts between the illiterate Carson and Frémont the West Point graduate, who in later years would be nominated by the Republican Party to run for president, are forever interesting. Carson saved Frémont's life repeatedly, but it was Frémont, with help from his articulate wife, who engineered Carson's rise to national celebrity status. In the forth segment of Robert's book titled The Long Walk, we learn General Carleton was the arch villain of the Apaches and Navajos-not Carson. Carleton selected the site for the Indian concentration camp-Bosque Redondo on the Pecos River- against the advice of his own inspection team. He underestimated the number of Indians that would be incarcerated, he woefully prepared the site to accommodate the captives, and he was wrong is his belief the nomadic tribes could become self-sufficient on such a small, barren site. Maybe Carleton planned it that way. After the Confederates were defeated in New Mexico during the early part of the Civil War, Carleton marched his regiment of California Volunteers eastward to Santa Fe. The victorious Union commander, Colonel Edward R.S. Canby was reassigned to an eastern command, and Carleton took over the command of the Union army in the Department of New Mexico. With no more Confederates to fight, Carleton turned his eye to the Apaches and Navajos. Roberts describes Carleton as extremely competent and aggressive, always driving himself and his men, a stickler for discipline, and one who could not admit an error or change his mind. He "had become obsessed with a psychopathic hatred of Apaches." With the 2350 men brought in from California itchy for further action, Carleton launched his campaign against the Southwestern Indians to give his soldiers something to do. While still assigned as the leader of the New Mexico Volunteers, Colonel Kit Carson was on his way to Fort Stanton when overtaken by a messenger sent from Carleton. Not fully literate in reading the English language, Carson asked one of his troopers to read the message. It read, All Indian men of that tribe are to be killed whenever and wherever you can find them: the women and children will not be harmed, but you will take them prisoners and feed them at Fort Stanton until you receive other instructions about them. If the Indians send in a flag and desire to treat for peace, say to the bearer...that you have been sent to punish them for their treachery and their crimes: That you have no power to make peace; that you are there to kill them wherever you can find them.... I trust that this severity in the long run will be the most humane course that could be pursued toward these Indians. Carson believed in following orders as faithfully as the next soldier, but he could not bring himself to carry out the letter of Carleton's genocidal imperative. In February of 1863, Carson dictated a letter of resignation, but Carleton refused to accept it. There was only one man, Carleton insisted, capable of carrying out the next phase of his grand scheme. Carson had the same orders to kill on sight when he marched into Canyon de Chelly in the conquest of the Navajos. And again he ignored Carleton's instructions. Roberts suggests any other officer in Carleton's command would have been charged with insubordination. Kit Carson, idolized by millions, fictionalized in the Western novels, befriended by governors, congressmen, senators, and presidents, was too large of an icon for General Carleton. David Roberts is the author of twelve books including two that are of special interest for aficionados of historic Southwest cultures- In Search of the Old Ones: Exploring the Anasazi World of the Southwest; and Once They Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Gerónimo, and the Apache Wars. o

Reviewed by Don Edward Clay, Editor of the Four Corners Pathfinder