Combining James R. Mead\u27s published and unpublished materials, Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains is a carefully edited memoir from the Kansas prairie in the 1870s-1890s. Mead (1836-1910) ventured west with young friends who planned to look and return; he stayed. And as his life turned from the outdoors to business and politics, Mead saw a wide spectrum of the frontier. He met Jesse Chisholm and Kit Carson, learned to value Indian civilization, and lived long enough to record his memories of these experiences

Lich, Glen E

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 1988 Review of Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains, 1859-1875 Glen E. Lich Baylor University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly  Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Lich, Glen E., "Review of Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains, 1859-1875" (1988). Great Plains Quarterly. 434. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/434 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 186 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1988 Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains, 1859-1875. By James R. Mead, edited by Schuyler Jones and introduction by Ignace Mead Jones. Norman: University of Okla-homa Press, 1986. Photographs, maps, bibliography, index. xx + 276 pp. $22.95 Combining James R. Mead's published and unpublished materials, Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains is a carefully edited memoir from the Kansas prairie in the 1870s-1890s. Mead (1836-1910) ventured west with young friends who planned to look and return; he stayed. And as his life turned from the outdoors to business and politics, Mead saw a wide spectrum of the frontier. He met Jesse Chisholm and Kit Carson, learned to value Indian civilization, and lived long enough to record his memories of these experiences. Filtered through a life that stretched from Vermont across the Midwest and every other major region of the United States except the South, Mead's memories assure breadth and perspective, even if they are-as the editor shows-occasionally flawed by minor inaccura-cy of details. Apart from a journal from 1859, his wide-ranging writings fall within the period from 1883-1908. The composite, pieced to-gether by the editor, is remarkable not only for what Mead says but also for his style. An entrepreneur in business, he was also a self-made storyteller; his tale, whether viewed from the perspective of its parts or from the vantage of the cycle, is original and penetrating, yet always suspenseful and entertaining. The editor remains sensitive to the rhetorical aspects suggested by Mead's writings and ethos. As he aged, Mead remembered events in different ways. Ambitions and aspirations, once achieved, no longer seemed as significant as his participation in irretrievable parts of frontiering. A parallax not only of age but also of values and shifring perceptions of self, these sometimes nostalgic and sometimes critical episodes tell today's reader what literature has always told: that ancient verities are the stuff of history and society, that the real self wins out in the end, and that understanding outlives belief. Yet somehow Mead makes what seems a saga of stasis, fatalism, and retrenchmen! seem dynamic and fresh and youthful. That style, that personality that rebounded from numerous business failures, distinguishes these memoirs from a host of other classics in homeliness. GLEN E. LrCH Regional Studies Program Baylor University BOOK REVIEWS 187 

Review of Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains, 1859-1875

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 
1988 
Review of Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains, 1859-1875 
Glen E. Lich 
Baylor University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly 
 Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons 
Lich, Glen E., "Review of Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains, 1859-1875" (1988). Great Plains 
Quarterly. 434. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/434 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
186 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1988 
Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains, 
1859-1875. By James R. Mead, edited by 
Schuyler Jones and introduction by Ignace 
Mead Jones. Norman: University of Okla-
homa Press, 1986. Photographs, maps, 
bibliography, index. xx + 276 pp. $22.95 
Combining James R. Mead's published and 
unpublished materials, Hunting and Trading on 
the Great Plains is a carefully edited memoir 
from the Kansas prairie in the 1870s-1890s. 
Mead (1836-1910) ventured west with young 
friends who planned to look and return; he 
stayed. And as his life turned from the 
outdoors to business and politics, Mead saw a 
wide spectrum of the frontier. He met Jesse 
Chisholm and Kit Carson, learned to value 
Indian civilization, and lived long enough to 
record his memories of these experiences. 
Filtered through a life that stretched from 
Vermont across the Midwest and every other 
major region of the United States except the 
South, Mead's memories assure breadth and 
perspective, even if they are-as the editor 
shows-occasionally flawed by minor inaccura-
cy of details. Apart from a journal from 1859, 
his wide-ranging writings fall within the period 
from 1883-1908. The composite, pieced to-
gether by the editor, is remarkable not only for 
what Mead says but also for his style. An 
entrepreneur in business, he was also a self-
made storyteller; his tale, whether viewed from 
the perspective of its parts or from the vantage 
of the cycle, is original and penetrating, yet 
always suspenseful and entertaining. The 
editor remains sensitive to the rhetorical 
aspects suggested by Mead's writings and 
ethos. 
As he aged, Mead remembered events in 
different ways. Ambitions and aspirations, 
once achieved, no longer seemed as significant 
as his participation in irretrievable parts of 
frontiering. A parallax not only of age but also 
of values and shifring perceptions of self, these 
sometimes nostalgic and sometimes critical 
episodes tell today's reader what literature has 
always told: that ancient verities are the stuff 
of history and society, that the real self wins 
out in the end, and that understanding 
outlives belief. Yet somehow Mead makes 
what seems a saga of stasis, fatalism, and 
retrenchmen! seem dynamic and fresh and 
youthful. That style, that personality that 
rebounded from numerous business failures, 
distinguishes these memoirs from a host of 
other classics in homeliness. 
GLEN E. LrCH 
Regional Studies Program 
Baylor University 
BOOK REVIEWS 187 


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