In his new book "Guns, Furs & Gold," Larry Morris recounts the 19th-century experience of the Arikaras, Crows, Cheyennes, and Arapahos by detailing their interactions with four legendary survivors of a fight with the Arikaras in 1823: Trailblazer Jedediah Smith, interpreter Edward Rose, guide and Indian agent Thomas Fitzpatrick, and grizzly-bear-mauling survivor Hugh Glass.
Their careers illuminate the fate of four Indian nations, revealing how — despite the best efforts of several explorers to treat Indigenous peoples respectfully — the guns, furs, disease, and gold rushes of the interlopers put the Indians’ way of life, their lands, and their very lives at grave risk.
Larry E. Morris is an independent writer and historian. He is the author of numerous books, including "The Fate of the Corps: What Became of the Lewis and Clark Explorers After the Expedition," a History Book Club selection; "The Perilous West: Seven Amazing Explorers and the Founding of the Oregon Trail;" and "In the Wake of Lewis and Clark: The Expedition and the Making of Antebellum America."
