Mountain Men

Reflections of a Black Cowboy #4

by Robert H. Miller

The exciting adventures of Black cowboys, pioneers, soldiers, and other frontiersmen join the celebrated folklore of the wild West in the Reflections of a Black Cowboy series. Through colorful, masterfully crafted vignettes that rival tall tales of the old frontier, author Robert H. Miller shares stories of important real life heroes - men and women whose bravery and adventurous spirits helped make the American West possible. Mountain Men spotlights Essteban, who came to America from Morocco as a slave aand was the first African to land in New Mexico and Arizona territory; Jean Baptiste Point duSable, founder of the city of Chicago; James Beckwourth, who discovered a shorter path (which bares his name) over the mountains to California; George McJunkin, whose discover of the Folsom Site in New Mexico proved Native Americans presence in North America dated back 10,000 years.

64 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Dr. Robert H. Miller has written nine children's books for Simon & Schuster & Macmillan on the role of African Americans in settling the 'Old West'.

The first four book series, “Reflections of a Black Cowboy” is written for fourth through eighth grade level; Book 1, Cowboys, Book 2, Buffalo Soldiers, Book 3, Pioneers and Book 4, Mountain Men.

The second four book series for kindergarten through second grade is a picture book series entitled, “Stories From the Forgotten West”.

The chapter book “A Pony for Jeremiah”, written for fourth grade reading and above rounds out the trilogy series about African Americans in the settling of the western frontier.

Reviews

[Fred Bradford · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even though this children's book is based on real people, many of the accounts contained within are fanciful fictions created by the author to make these men sound unbelievably iconic. Which embellishment, of course, none of the men needed. They were indeed all courageous, stalwart men. But the author paints a detailed picture where such details are completely unknown. And while such particulars MAY be true, they may be equally (and most probably) UNTRUE. But that's a critique of the author, not of the "mountain men" in question. As my copy was a local, school library book though, it strikes me as the fiction being passed off as historical fact that pervades our schools these days. And that's a sad reflection. Again, the men in this book need no fictional propping up.