Life in the Far West (Classics of the Old West) Leather Bound – January 1, 1983

Whether or not it is all true, this tale is as informative and entertaining a story of the trappers experiences as you are likely to come across.

This is the third leather bound ( beautiful made books) in the Time life series I have read and reviewed. All so far either 4 or 5 stars. A great series so far.George Frederick Ruxton the author of Life In The far West lead a very exciting, eventful but very short life. He died at age 28 but what a life he had. He served with the Spanish in their war and received a Spanish Knighthood for his bravery before he was 18( almost unheard of for one so young). At 14 he enrolled at he enrolled at the British "West Point" at Southhurst and received a British Army commission( which he later sold... this was common) as a Lieutenant and served in Ireland and Canada.In 1843-1844 he passed the winter trapping and hunting in southern Canada and New York state. A very harsh life. He found his vocation he loved.Later he had two expeditions to Africa but returned to America. Some say he was either a British military spy on the Mexican war or a commercial double agent. What a short fascinating life.Now to Life In The Far West.....Life In The Far West is the real deal by a man who was there. We see the ruthless blood thirsty Trapper mountain men who were just as bad as the Indians. Both the Indians and trappers attacked each other and took scalps. We see the trappers marrying squaws. Lots of battles, gun fighting and groups of "Spanish ( Mexicans) slaughtered, trappers killed and groups of Indians fighting each other, whites and the "Spanish or Greasers" ( Mexicans). We see this was a brutal time where the strong and ruthless survived and the week were slaughtered. Lots of fighting brutal winter weather, starvation, eating horse, mule, dog, bugs or anything the Indians and Trappers could get to survive including sometimes eating Human flesh.I really like learning phrases and words used by the Indians and Trappers. Some of them are explained in foot notes. Examples to hide...from cacher, antelope called goats by mountain men. More!This book dispels the "nice guy" attitude of trappers in some of the Hollywood movies. A lot of brutality. I would of given this book 5 stars but in many places Ruxton writes what the trappers are saying in mountain language with lots of contractions that slowed the reading down a little. Even so I read the 312 page book in three days. Its a page burner, exciting and the reader is learning true information about the far west, not some juiced up story by someone who was not there. 4 1/3 stars and proudly added to our family library.I like these Time Life series leather bound books of the old west so much I bought eleven of them used and have eight more to read and review. I may buy more.

Arguably one of the best books on mountain man life and times. A blend of fiction and fact that transports you back to that golden era of our expanding country.

The quality of this particular edition was frustrating at times. It looks to me like they tried to convert a PDF to a Word document and not all the letters came through correctly, so you see things like "lie" for "he" and "lair" for "hair". This can be particularly challenging when it happens in passages containing dialect.The novel itself is a relaxing read and gives a very interesting perspective on the life of trappers, their interactions with Native Americans, and even some pages on the early day of Mormonism. If you are easily offended, you should be warned that this book is a product of its era. It is racist and uses several slurs and insults towards basically any non-whites encountered. That's regrettable but again, it's a product of a dark era in the history of race relations.The book is also violent and descriptive, so perhaps a bit of caution for younger readers, but as a fictionalized time capsule it is fascinating and enjoyable.

An astounding account of the lives of the men who lived and traveled in the mountains of the West. Fur trappers all, they suffered incredible privations while following their trade.George Frederick Ruston was a young man who joined them and chronicled their deeds in the mid 1800's. He was from an upper class English family and well traveled on the continent, and elsewhere, before making his way West. He too loved the mountaineers way of life and had a wonderful gift of making himself at home in whatever circumstances he found himself.

This is an excellent book ,if you have some knowledge of that time period and the Fur trade.

Content is 4-5 stars. BUT! This paperback edition (Creative Space) appears to have been printed directly after scanning and OCR. It is a mess and difficult to read: page and chapter breaks in the middle of the text, footnotes ditto see picture above. Mis-read OCR, etc. Publisher and Amazon should be ashamed of themselves.TBH I should have viewed more pages before selecting this edition. Still...

I had loaned out the copy I bought in 1980 and it never returned. Now, years later while answering questions from my niece I was despondent that I did not have this book anymore. Thank you Amazon!!! Ruxton's narrative brings more life to ancient family stories than I can!! LaBonte was real, he was my G-G-G Grandfather!! His son was no slouch either, but that is a tale for another time.