Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears

Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of the Wild West

By: Matthew P. Mayo

Narrated by: James Romick

The romance of the West is built on an endless armature of shootouts and train robberies, cowboys versus Indians, white hat versus black, and everybody versus the wilderness. From John Colter's harrowing escape from the Blackfeet to Hugh Glass' six-week crawl to civilization after a grizzly attack, from Custer's final moments to John Wesley Powell's treacherous run through the rapids of the Grand Canyon, Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears takes the top 50 wildest episodes in the region's history and presents them to the listener in one convenient, narrative-driven package.

©2009 Matthew P. Mayo (P)2020 Tantor

Fast and fun

Lots of raw grit, hangings, beevs and bears. Good stories that seem to have some historical backing.

Very interesting stories. A bit gruesome.

I loved all the different stories of the old west. Many were very gruesome and disturbing but it was educational. I also liked that they were all pretty short. He just told the story and moved on. Also appreciated that it was just the story with the facts or the believed facts. No political prosletyzing that some authors like to do.

Exactly what you'd expect

The stories are exactly what you'd want from the description. Gritty, entertaining, enlightening stories from the wild west. This satisfied exactly what I was looking for!

A good entry level primer

This was an enjoyable but somewhat shallow set of vignettes taken throughout the American frontier "wild west" period. I think if I were curating such tales I might have opted for more of gold rush California, the western campaign in the ACW, and more Native American stories, at the cost of leaving out a few bear maulings. At least five percent of this book is about grizzly bear attacks, so their prominent place in the title is not misleading.

The voice acting is decent, but the performer does often resort to a sort of diaphragm heavy "old gruff prospector" voice, that sounds like he might be stranded on the privy.

The account of the Fetterman fight is fairly inaccurate and has been widely debunked, However Bass Reeves actually gets the respect and admiration he richly deserves as an unsung hero of that time period.

Pretty damn cool

I really enjoyed this audible. It had a lot of short stories that were interesting. A nice, easy listen.