Free Men

By Edward Louis Henry

391 pages, softcover: $24.95

ISBN 1-4241-2808-0

Reviewed by Mike Nesbitt

In the last January/February 2007 issue you might have read my review of Backbone of the World by Edward Louis Henry. Free Men is a continuation of that same story. While Backbone of the World focused on the years 1822–1824, Free Men is the story of Temple Buck, the same fictitious character, and his adventures up to 1826. Just as with the previous book, Free Men follows history very well.

As Free Men gets started, it backtracks just a little bit. It does so just enough to give a reader who hasn’t read Backbone of the World a good background for the coming story. To say things a little more accurately, perhaps, the backtracking that Free Men does helps refresh the memories of those readers who have read the previous book.

In Free Men, Temple Buck completes his contract with Ashley and then stays in the mountains as a free trapper. He and his partners trap the waters in Blackfoot country and they do very well. Yet all the while they keep their eyes on the ridgelines to keep on guard. That’s needed too. While they are on the trail, they keep themselves aware of where the fur company men are going as well as friendly Indians who might give them some help if they need it to keep from being overrun by the warring Blackfeet. Most of the battles or skirmishes referred to really happened.

Toward the end of this book, Temple returns to St. Louis a very rich man. The way that happens you’ll have to read for yourself, but he teams up with Black Harris. He needs a new rifle by then, having lost his old favorite, and Temple goes to the shop of Jacob Hawken. That should be no surprise. Then he goes farther east to visit with his mother, but all the while he’s talking and planning about going back to the mountains.

Once again, the author, Edward Louis Henry, is a buckskinner and a fur trade historian known as “Poredevil.” And, just like I mentioned in the first review, there are two more volumes that will follow Free Men. The next book is being written now, and I’m looking forward to seeing it. Free Men is a continuation of Backbone of the World, and if you have finished Backbone of the World, you will want more.

Orders for Free Men can be emailed to <www.publishamerica.com>. Retail price is $24.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling. To order by regular mail, send your order to: Publish America, Box 151, Frederick MD 21705. 

@ 2007 ScurlockPublishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.