“Trails West” published by National Geographic Society in their “Special Publications” series in 1979 is one of those books from my younger days that “Trails West” published by National Geographic Society in their “Special Publications” series in 1979 is one of those books from my younger days that sparked within me an ardent interest for tales from the Old West, which later developed into a full blown fascination for the paintings related to its frontiers and endless hours of Western and Spaghetti Western movies. With in the pages of this attractively designed “coffee table” book, the reader can literally experience the adventures related to the life of the traders and settlers from the early 1800s who ventured deep into west blazing new trails in search of new economic, and social pastures. “Trails West” is the story of the early settlers and the historic trails they traveled, and their contributions to the socio-political fabric of the America as a nation.
Compiled by a panel of six authors, this book borrows heavily from letters, journals and sketchbooks kept by the emigrants from the time period while reconstructing the Old West with its all thrills and wilderness as it was when the early settlers came there more than 180 years ago. The book brings back the real stories of those men and women who headed to the “lands beyond sundown” and the hardships they met during this emigration to the west.
[image] ‘Emigrants Crossing the Plains’ drawn by F.O.C. Darley, 1872
For many of the early westering emigrants the motivation for the travel was trading – and of course, gold prospecting -; for many it was the promise of fertile lands, better economic conditions and better prospects of jobs; for some it was a journey in hope of religious freedom by avoiding persecution; and for some it was the sheer adventure of such a journey which demanded volumes of endurance. Numerous such travelers paid with their life as accidents, diseases, altercations with native tribes, harsh and hostile landscapes and unpredictable weather interfered with their emigration and the reader will come across all these elements while reading about these journeys told through the eyes of these actual emigrants.
Of the multitude of routes, which were available for a traveler opting to go across the Western United States, the “Trails West” inspects six of the major trails:
The Santa Fe Trail
A trail of more than 900 miles, which connected Franklin, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico was a route that snaked through prairie, mountain and desert and was a major “Highway of Commerce” when it was opened in 1821 until the abandonment in 1880 with the advent of a railroad. The trail offered the travelers two branches to choose between; one which was a difficult passage for the wagons as it angled through the Colorado Rockies or another branch, the ‘Cimarron cutoff’, which offered a shortcut of about 100 miles at the expense of the risk of a scarcity of water sources.
[image] Arrival of the caravan at Santa Fe, an 1844 Lithograph
“Trails West” introduces this trail to the reader by detailing the commercial and historic aspects that it offers by looking at various factors like the rich Native American history and the ceremonies the Spanish influences, the various dangers that the travelers had to endure while on this trail – with cholera being an ever present danger -, the various forts and trading posts that were present during the high days of the trail and finally getting him acquainted with modern day expeditions that travel through this trail – on foot, horseback, wagon or automobile – as a pilgrimage in capturing the spirit of the Santa Fe trail travelers. If the reader is familiar with the National Geographic magazine or their articles then he can get an idea about the level of detailing that goes into the textual information that is involved in the narrative. It is well balanced by period paintings, rare photographs, sketches and modern day photos that capture panoramic vistas of the trail. By mixing the travel narratives and excerpts from early documents along with a modern day travel along the trail the epic journey across these routes is made visually alive for the reader.
With the same level of detailing the book inspects five more historic trails like “The Oregon Trail”, which was blazed by the fur traders and missionaries during 1830s; “The Mormon Trail”; “The Bozeman Trail”; “The Gila Trail” and “The California Trail” while bringing alive their historic perspectives by including the historic monuments and other interesting sights from also in the narrative.
This is a richly illustrated ‘coffee-table’ book meant for casual reading and for getting acquainted with travel journals and other rare documentations and paraphernalia related to these trails. It is more of a guide to traveling along these trails than being a complete historic volume on these emigrations, as no narration of these commercial and cultural journeys can be complete without a mention about the impact these emigrations had on the Native Indians. In the confrontations between the settlers and the Native Indians who inhabited these lands, huge and horrific massacres happened. The book mentions them only briefly without going into the depths.
“Trails West” brings to the reader the glory, bravery, hardships and tragedies of the frontier life in the American Old West through the eyes of the men and women who were actually there. The easy to read text is accompanied by more than 130 high quality photographs and historical illustrations, which adds to the value of the volume....more
A beautifully illustrated coffee table book for all James Bond Fans and movie enthusiasts. The book is immensely large in dimensions with high qualityA beautifully illustrated coffee table book for all James Bond Fans and movie enthusiasts. The book is immensely large in dimensions with high quality art paper and is lavishly spruced up with extremely big high quality rare photographs.
Covering bond movies from 'Dr. No' to 'The world is not enough' this collectable books is choke full of interview excerpts, posters and photographs from movies and sets, trivia and history of each movie etc to make every Bond fan extremely satisfied. It also has a reference section at the end of the book which acts as a ready reckoner for finding facts like release date, box office collection details, awards etc along with interesting trivia's like details of villains, bond women, gadgets, locations etc.
Being a hardcore bond fan this title is one of the jewels in my library.
The World's Last Mysteries from Reader's Digest is an impressive coffee table book, which presents the reader with some of the most perplexing enigmasThe World's Last Mysteries from Reader's Digest is an impressive coffee table book, which presents the reader with some of the most perplexing enigmas from the ancient civilizations. This lavishly illustrated title examines and presents the reader with some of the mysterious geographic locations and phenomenon often related to ancient history and gives him various theories and facts aimed at making him ponder about these pieces of puzzles in archaeology.
Read during my high school days in the 90s, I was hooked to it the moment I saw the embossed great stone disc of the Aztec calendar on the book cover and found each of the chapters presented in great depth with lucid text and studies not riddled with any bias. The photographs and maps, which accompany each article, are of superior quality and for me it was one of those early titles, which introduced some of the most mysterious locations and events in the world history.
Segmented into different sections the book starts of with a chapter on the lost civilization of Atlantis. It discusses the mythology and facts related to Atlantis in great detail followed by overviews on other fabled lands like Eldorado and The Land of Queen Sheba. One thing, which adds to the value of these articles, is the fact that they are never trying to sensationalize the shroud of mystery surrounding each event or locations; rather they provide some serious impressions on them, which ignite the thought process of the reader.
Some of the other mysteries discussed in this title are: the giant stones of Easter Island, secrets of Stonehenge, Mysterious ancient cities like Teotihuacan, the Indus Valley civilization, Tihuanaco and Jericho, Secrets of Pyramids, Angkor Wat, Nazca lines and the 1908 mysterious explosion in Siberia.
One added feature of the book is the 22 page Gazetteer of Mysterious Sites Around The World presented at the end of the book which compiles a long listing of mysterious sites on our planet arranged by country, with black & white photographs. From a present viewpoint, with the overwhelming reach of technology most of the information found in this book may be easily available, but the book is worth alone for its superb photographs and schematic illustrations.
More details about the content of the book can be found here...more
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