The Buckskins (Real West Fiction Series),Used

Review ''This is a historical novel set in the West in the 1800s. The two heroes, Rees Marquette and Nat Cochran, become guides for some Wyandot Indians, work their way West for more exciting adventures with the Comanches and Apaches. They learn how the Mountain Men live and do their trapping and hunting. Their survival skills are challenged as they make their way down into Colonial New Mexico. Their story ends as they work to establish a ranch in the Jicarilla Mountain Area. As with his other books, Apache Shadows, Hacienda and Son of Manitou, Booky has done extensive historical research and the book, though fiction, is based on fact.'' Marcia Muth, ''Book Chat,'' Enchantment Product Description Nat Cochran, a young Virginia adventurer teams up with Rees Marquette who is an old French Canadian trapper, and learns the ways of the mountain man in the 1800s. On their way west, they become guides to the Wyandot Indian nation in its effort to relocate west of the Mississippi River. The two later lend assistance to three mountain men who are trapped by a large number of Comanches who are in search of a mysterious phenomenon whom they believe to be a god. Exciting episodes with Comanches, Apaches, a cattle drive, and encounters with the Mexican officials in New Mexico challenge the survival skills of these two men and their friends before they finally settle in the Jicarilla Mountain area to establish a ranch. From Publishers Weekly Booky ( Son of Manitou ) has fashioned less a historical novel than snippets of 19thcentury American frontier history awkwardly linked by the merest wisps of fictional justification. Nat Cochran's ambition is to see the land west of the Mississippi, and although the green lad naively sets out alone, he is quickly taken under the wing of veteran frontiersman Rees Marquette. Rees coaches Nat on wilderness warfare and survival, Indian ways and beaver trapping until they part. Nat heads for New Mexico, where he acquires another companion, Three Tongues, a Comanche warrior he rescues from a grass fire. Under his tutelage, Nat learns the rudiments of Comanche culture. He must be an incredibly slow study, though: after living with the tribe for three years and marrying into their group, he asks, 'Where is the Happy Hunting Ground?' Booky's fondness for introducing history through transparent ploys and, worse yet, absurdly stilted dialogue ('I forgot that Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory back in 1830, didn't he?') will discourage all but the most determined readers. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author ALBERT R. BOOKY was an educator, author, and researcher. His other three books from Sunstone Press are Apache Shadows, Hacienda and Son of Manitou. All his books are based on solid historical facts.