"It remains what it always has been since its first appearance in 1856—a rousing adventure story in which Jim Beckwourth plays the leading role."—San Francisco Chronicle
"Another value to this new edition is that it once more makes readily available to students of the American West a book which was important in manufacturing the literary views of the fur trade which appear in the later nineteenth century. Beckwourth's biography is one of the source books to which many writers of both fur trade history and fiction turned in their quest for a little ready-made blood and thunder.—New Mexico Historical Review
"This is a book of great importance to an understanding of the mountains, plains, and Great Basin West."—California Historical Quarterly
"Making use of recent discoveries, Oswald corrects many factual errors and proves that much more of this classic autobiography is true than had been supposed."—The American West
