Kit Carson led remarkable life in volatile times [video 57min]

In Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West, Hampton Sides discusses America's 19th-century expansion into the American Southwest and the military expeditions led by former fur trapper Kit Carson. He explains that Carson was not a self-promoter and did not enjoy his celebrity or the dime novels about his exploits. Hampton Sides addressed a group of students enrolled in a course on the American West at Columbia University in New York City. Sides is editor-at-large for Outside Magazine. He won the 2002 PEN USA award for nonfiction and was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2003. His other books include Ghost Soldiers and Stomping Grounds.