Brave Hearted

The Women of the American West

By: Katie Hickman

Narrated by: Katie Hickman, Nerissa Bradley

Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

“Brave Hearted is not just history, it is an incredibly intense page-turning experience. To read what these women endured is to be transported into another universe of courage, loss, pain, and occasionally victory. This book is a triumph.”—Amanda Foreman

“Absolutely compelling”—Christina Lamb, Sunday Times (UK)

The dramatic, untold stories of the diverse array of women who helped transform the American West.

Hard-drinking, hard-living poker players and prostitutes of the new boom towns; wives and mothers traveling two and a half thousand miles across the prairies in covered-wagon convoys, some of them so poor they walked the entire route; African-American women in search of freedom from slavery; Chinese sex-workers sold openly on the docks of San Francisco; Native American women brutally displaced by the unstoppable tide of white settlers–these were the women who settled the American West, whose stories until now have remained mostly untold. As the internationally bestselling historian Katie Hickman writes, “Myth and misunderstanding spring from the American frontier as readily as rye grass from sod, and—like the wiry grass—seem as difficult to weed out and discard.” But the true-life story of women's experiences in the Wild West is more gripping, heart-rending, and stirring than all the movies, novels, folk-legends, and ballads of popular imagination.

Drawing on letters, diaries, and other extraordinary contemporary accounts, sifting through the legends and the myths, the laws and the treaties, Katie Hickman presents us with a cast of unforgettable women, all forced to draw on huge reserves of resilience and courage in the face of tumultuous change: the half Cree, Marguerite McLoughlin, the much-admired “First Lady” of Fort Vancouver; the Presbyterian missionary Narcissa Whitman, who in 1837 became the first white woman to make the overland journey west across the Rocky Mountains; Biddy Mason, the Mississippi slave who fought for her freedom through the courts of California; Olive Oatman, adopted by the Mohave, famous for her facial tattoos.

This is the story of the women who participated in the greatest mass migration in American history, transforming their country in the process. This is American history not as it was romanticized but as it was lived.

©2022 Katie Hickman (P)2022 Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks

Critic reviews

“Gripping, eye-opening, enlightening.”—Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of Room

“This book delivers a blazing 360-degree view of the American story. Each page is packed with gumption and grit and genius.”—Bettany Hughes, New York Times bestselling author of The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life

“Full of heartrending accounts of courage and tragedy, this is a vital contribution to the history of America’s frontier.”—Publishers Weekly

Compelling

This book provides a compelling account of American history and the westward expansion that you have probably never heard before!

A Fine history based on the fact that women were there as well

A interesting history that talks about the often ignored hands that built America. it leans neither right or left

Heartbroken

This book makes me so sad for the treatment of the native Americans! It is shameful that they were and still are mistreated. I am sorry and wish more could be done too compensate their descendants for the mistreatment they endured so long ago.

A story all Americans should read

This book contains so much information about American: the good, the bad & the ugly. It is a wonderfully written story of the American west as seen & told by the woman who were there.
Thank you Katie for putting this together.

Well researched and well written.

The history of the west from a woman’s point of view has been under reported. This book is an attempt to correct that problem. Well researched and well written. Very interesting.

Wonderful book intolerable narrator

The sample preface was read by the author and she was great but when I got the book it was actually narrated by a woman whose whiny high pitched and unpleasant voice made me cringe. I had to return the book and buy the hard copy which was amazing. We’ll written and researched. It was a real joy!
Probably the choice was made to have a narrator without an English accent but there are so many great American actors out there. This choice was disastrous!

Excellent history, poor production

Historically significant work, unfortunately the narrator is at times difficult to understand, many words are unintelligible.

Nothing new on the western frontier

I would recommend this book to those unfamiliar with the American frontier. Otherwise, the frontier experiences detailed in this book were very similar to any others (male or female) read of the time period.

From the introduction and summary, I was expecting some new or surprising stories of native heroism or lesser know women who were instrumental in shaping the frontier. After the first chapter, it was story after story of women along the western trails with the same motivations as any other traveler during the period.

History that makes you sad.

This is the shocking truth about how women and minorities have been treated in this country’s history. The values are immoral and greedy. These roots still influence modern life.

extremely biased author

this author tells a story from a very biased foundation. she gives no benefit to the other side of issues. what a liberal minded poor author