Bravos of the West

by John Myers Myers

Bravos of the West is a panoramic history of the development of the West after the Lewis and Clark expedition. Appearing, exiting, and reappearing in this history are trappers, traders, prospectors, gunslingers, missionaries, soldiers, and scientists. Here they are shown trapping beaver, confronting bears, trading, and discovering natural wonders as they advance ever farther into the wilds.

 

John Myers Myers begins with the struggle for Texas and follows the men and women who came the mountain men beyond the mouth of the Yellowstone, the emigrants to Oregon, the fortune hunters to California, the Mormons to Salt Lake, the stagecoaches, express ponies, and steam-engine trains through mountain passes and open country, and the outlaws to all of it. Playing their roles on this huge historical stage are Andrew Jackson, Davy Crockett, Hugh Glass, Jim Bowie, William Ashley, Mike Fink, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Thomas Hart Benton, Stephen Austin, Sam Houston, Peg-leg Smith, Mountain Lamb, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, Jack Swilling, Henry Plummer, Jack Coffee Hays, Deaf Smith, John Charles Frémont, Brigham Young, John Sutter, Sitting Bull, Cynthia Ann Parker, Joaquin Murrieta, and Wild Bill Hickok.

467 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Myers was born and grew up on Long Island, New York. He attended the University of New Mexico briefly, but was expelled for being one of the writers in a rebel newspaper, The Pariah. After extensive travel through Europe and the United States, Myers worked for the New York World and San Antonio Evening News. He was also an advertising copywriter. Myers served a short term in the U.S. Army during World War II. In 1943, he married Charlotte Shanahan, with whom he had two daughters. He settled in Tempe, Arizona in 1948. John Myers Myers died October 30, 1988.

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravos of the West, (originally titled Death of the Bravos) is an informal history of the old West. Largely mined from oral tradition. It chronicles the years 1812 to 1878. Myers writes:
“By and large, what went on in the early days of the American West transpired while historians were looking the other way”
and rather than attempting a scholarly treatment of the subject, he has drawn on the oral tradition to create a rollicking tale of the mountain men, scouts, Indians, bandits, filibusters, and shootist who lived and died there during that wide open and wild time.

Following a rough chronological order, each chapter sketches the story of one of these Western bravos, some well known characters, others more obscure. A substantial portion of the book is about the various mountain men and the fur trade, covering such legends as Jed Smith, Hugh Glass, Jim Bridger, Old Bill Williams, Joe Meeks, and many others. Sam Houston and the rest of the men who made Texas are covered well, as are those who blazed the Santa Fe Trail, and those who opened up and settled the Oregon Country. There is hardly a significant event or person in the time period that he covers that Myers does not bring to life through his lively prose. He skillfully weaves all of these separate stories into a great tapestry of the claiming of the West.

Myers knows his subject well, as most of his life was devoted to researching and writing about the American West. Yet he is primarily a storyteller, a folk historian rather than an academic. His writing is playful and idiomatic, and if you let yourself fall under his spell, you may find you are searching out his other books regardless of subject.

Bravos of the West falls somewhere between history and legend, and hence must at times be taken with a grain of salt if pure historical accuracy (is there any such beast?) is what you are looking for. But to learn of the many amazing characters whose stories combined to win the West and create an American mythology, John Myers Myers' fascinating book is just the thing.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a kid, I read what I thought was a great biography about Doc Holliday, by a man with the odd name of John Myers Myers. I tracked down a couple of his other books about the American west. Years later, I learned that he was also known as a fantasy writer for a brilliantly strange book called Silverlock. That was the ultimate kitchen sink novel, tying together pretty much all of English literature and folklore.
To my delight, I recently tracked down a copy of Bravos of the West, his overview of the exploration and conquest of the west. Unlike his other works, this is made up of snippets and anecdotes rather than a single long story, and the format allowed him to tell the stories of some of the very obscure people of that period, and fleshes in some of the usual stories that we all learned in school.
Other than his very odd comments about Jim Beckwourth [Myers felt that Beckwourth was a self-promoting phony, for some reason:], the book was very interesting, and for a book written in the early 1960s, very balanced. The settlers are not always the good guys, and the Indians not always the bad guys. Some of our cherished historical figures had flaws, and Myers illuminates those as well as their bravery and heroics.
The real weakness of the book is the way it jumps back and forth, portraying a 50-year period in mostly chronological order, but changing location from chapter to chapter. I found that the easiest way to read the book was a chapter or two at a time.