Throne of Grace: A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the Bloody Conquest of the American West

by Tom Clavin, Bob Drury Narrated by Johnny Heller

Overview

"Johnny Heller's rough-hewn voice is perfect for an Old West tale of lawmen and rustlers" -AudioFile on Tombstone

The explosive true saga of the legendary adventurer Jedediah Smith and the Mountain Men who explored the American frontier, written by New York Times bestselling authors of Blood and Treasure Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.

It is the early 19th century, and the land recently purchased by President Thomas Jefferson stretches west for thousands of miles. Who inhabits this vast new garden of Eden? What strange beasts and natural formations can be found? Thus was the birth of Manifest Destiny and the resulting bloody battles with Indigenous tribes encountered by white explorers. Also in this volatile mix are the grizzled fur trappers and mountain men, waging war against the Native American tribes whose lands they traverse.

This is the setting of Throne of Grace, and the guide to this epic narrative is arguably America's greatest yet most unsung pathfinder, Jedediah Smith. His explorations into the forested frontiers on both sides of the Rocky Mountains and all the way to the West Coast would become the stuff of legend. Thanks to painstaking research and riveting writing, the story of the making of modern America is told through the eyes of both the ordinary and memorable men and women, settlers and Indigenous, who witnessed it. But it's Smith who drives the narrative with his trailblazing path through the unexplored terrain of the American West.

Throne of Grace is a gripping yarn that drops the reader into the center of an underreported era and introduces one of the great explorers in American history.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for Throne of Grace and Bob Drury and Tom Clavin:

"Jedediah Smith might be one of the most important, and one of the most overlooked, 19th century explorers in our nation’s history. Authors Clavin and Drury ... are correcting that oversight." —Los Angeles Times on Throne of Grace

"A lively account of the remarkable life of one of the men who led the U.S. into the vast West." —Kirkus (starred review) on Throne of Grace

“Drury and Clavin bring adventure and danger to life in this excellent narrative history of a largely forgotten chapter in the American story.” —Booklist on Throne of Grace

"With its muscular prose and expert storytelling, The Last Hill deserves to stand beside Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers as one of the truly epic—and intimate—accounts of American heroism and sacrifice in World War II. " —Wall Street Journal

"In this exhaustive history ... Drury and Clavin pack the narrative with biographical details about the Rangers and skillfully toggle between battle scenes and big-picture analysis. WWII buffs will savor this deep dive." —Publishers Weekly on The Last Hill

“Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, challenge conventional wisdom about an American origin story and, in the process, weave a tale fit for the big screen.” —Washington Free Beacon on Blood and Treasure

“Bob Drury and Tom Clavin together have given us a half-dozen elegantly written narratives of exhilarating episodes in American history. [Blood and Treasure] may be the authors’ finest work to date. Redolent of time and place, a raw and rugged tale.” —Wall Street Journal

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2024-02-03
The story of the adventurer who opened trails into the Rockies and beyond in the 1820s.

Growing up in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, Jedediah Smith (1799-1831) learned to hunt and handle boats at an early age, and he was deeply fascinated by Native American lore and the travels of Lewis and Clark. When he arrived in St. Louis in 1822, Smith was prepared to join a beaver-trapping expedition up the Missouri River. That set him on the road to a remarkable series of adventures as he worked his way into territory previously unseen by any white man: hunting and trapping, wintering in rough camps far from any settlement, getting to know, and often fighting, the many Indigenous peoples who lived in the West. Smith’s skills and character—unlike other mountain men, he was pious and sober in his lifestyle—made him a natural choice for leading trapping companies. He and other American explorers faced opposition from the Mexican government in California and from the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada, both of which had a strong prior claim on territory that eventually became U.S. states on the West Coast. Clavin and Drury, co-authors of Blood and Treasure, embellish Smith’s story, largely based on his own journals, with a wealth of material covering all aspects of the history, geography, and the many colorful characters who led the way into the wilderness. Smith died leading one final expedition, but not before he had left a significant mark on American history. “When Smith took his first, tentative steps into the unknown,” write the authors, “the interior of the North American continent was a blank slate for most if not all of his countrymen.”

A lively account of the remarkable life of one of the men who led the U.S. into the vast West.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159500236
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

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