The Mountain Men: The Dramatic History and Lore of the First Frontiersmen

Well, aside from the first 65 pages it's OK. He almost lost me because of all the negative mentions about how we invaded Indian territory and stole all their beaver & buffalo. I learned that in the 5th grade. A couple mentions of it here would have been acceptable, But multiple times on some pages just started wearing thin on me.
Now, it's not Mr Laycock's fault, that all the stories of all the Trappers seem pretty much the same. But that's what happened. They were either fighting Indians, grizzlys or cold & hunger. All of them. For 240 pages!
The sparse info on equipment, tools and techniques was interesting. In fact that's what I bought the book for.
Hope this helps you,
Ted

Having taught high school history for 40 years and the Era of the Mountain Men being one of my most favorite topics, I have a real strong passion for books on this topic. This is an excellent introduction to the topic of the Mountain Men. I highly recommend "A Majority of Scoundels" by Don Berry for those looking to read further, as well as a number of good books on Jedediah Smith, esp. one by Dale Morgan and anything by W. Blevins. The book is organized with short inserts between chapters on a great variety of topics on Mountain Men: their guns, how to trap beaver, their tools, how to cashe, their boats, etc. As I read I looked for maps to help locate places mentioned - the book certainly would have benefited from having them included, essential to any reading on history like this. Good biographies of some of the very famous and also some lesser known figures.
If I were going to recommend one book to my students or anyone else to get an overview and good intro to the topic, it would be this one. Not a really long book but a great place to start and also for the well read on the subject, bits of new information and insights that make the book well worth the purchase.

I enjoyed the book greatly; the stories of the mountain men were accurate but not indepth. And the drawings and descriptions of their equipment were great. George Laycock did a great job telling the story of the mountain men and the life of freedom they lived and the equipment they used. Today as I trek through the Rocky Mountains West of Denver on trails well worn and without the danger of Indians or Grizzly Bears, I am awed by the beauty of these majestic snow capped mountains and know why the first mountain men loved them so. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a crisp autumn day, the song of a chickadee, or fresh dew on the grass.

Not only have I heard these stories before, I've never read a mountain man book before. So where the heck have I heard them before? From the same book in an earlier chapter. The book repeats the same stories in different chapters about the same people. In the end you'd figure that there were only about 5 'mountain men' in total and you just keep hearing the same stories about the guys over and over. Did have some good photos on how to make a cup out of a buffalo horn.

This is a bit of a compilation of many other "Mountain Man" books. Not a bad start for someone just entering the genre. Not much new here for those of us who have studied the subject.

I have a depth of knowledge related to this Genre. I have not found a better book as entertaining and page turning as this one. Bibliography is sufficient for research purposes and the bonus of Do It Yourself Mountain Man products and survival gear is a nice add-on. Many little known trappers get proper due as to their contributions to the " Taming of the West ". Well Done George Laycock.

Coach J. Hill 11/10/13

I read this book outloud to hubby. As has been stated, this is an excellent book for a well rounded discussion of mountain men and individual mountain men. As such it left me wanting to know more about each of them. I felt the book was well researched. I recommend the book, especially to 'newbies' to early American old west history.

This book is such good reading. I love the stories it tells and It covers a lot of early History. It tells more in depth about the early mountain men that I have ever read.

This book is a good book for those who are interested in the mountain men and their adventures. This book has inspired me to do some more reading about them. It gives a lot of interesting, detailed information about what they mountain men did.

good read.