Reviews for Charbonneau, Man of Two Dreams

The average rating for Charbonneau, Man of Two Dreams based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-12-24 00:00:00 Steve Smith Speculation about Sacagawea's son, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau. Brings to life his schooling in St. Louis, travels in Europe and Africa. Returned to the Rocky Mountains, he must choose between white and Indian cultures. (I'm not a Blevins fan, and this is 3.55 kind of 4.) Map : Rocky Mountain Fur Trapping Area, 1806--1843 From the hardcover jacket : "Here is the compelling story of a man who lived in a castle with the Prince of Wurttemberg and in a tipi with the king of the Rocky Mountain fur trappers ... a unique individual who was at ease conversing in formal German with a marquesa, or in fluent Crow with a war chief; whether playing a new Beethoven sonata at the pianoforte, or participating in a Shoshone buffalo dance ... Blevin, Charbonneau “The principal difference between the Indian gods and the Christian god, Baptiste answered, was that Jehovah was a defined sort of person, a kind of superman, and the Indian gods were natural forces, power of the water that makes it flow, the power that brings rain, the power of the winds, the power in animate and inanimate thing—the secret power that made it what it was—and he revered and solicited that power, the hardness of the rock, the ferocity of the bear, the warmth and light of the sun. That was the essence of his religion.” “Why, then, do you wear that totem object about your neck? … What is your meaning for it?” … Like this stone, I am an alien.” (He wears a meteorite necklace and refers to his heritage.) “We have been riding for some days now on high plateaus of grassland, with mountains sometimes visible to the southwest. It is an odd country, and has strange effect on the mind. One moves as though through an illusion of time … We might be on some vast treadmill, creating the illusion of movement in a landscape that moves by without any shift in its character, an endless repetition of the same hills, ravines, and far-stretching grass; a sort of cosmic joke.” (During the camel ride south from Tangiers)

Review # 2 was written on 2017-06-07 00:00:00 Mike Johnston Charbonneau-Man of Two Dreams by Win Blevins is a beautifully written story woven in and around Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, born of Sacajawea and his French-Canadian father, Toussaint, who was born at the Lewis and Clark winter camp, Ft. Mandan, ND in 1805. A fur trapper, Toussaint was far less support for the westward expedition to the Pacific than was the better-known Sacajawea (a Lemhi Shoshone), who provided excellent trail guidance as well as interpretive services in dealing with the other tribes of the northwest. It was Clark who took a vested interest in the boy he nicknamed "Pomp" (Shoshone for "first born") and became his guardian. Blevins notes at the beginning of the book, "...I have played free with history where it suited my dramatic and thematic purposes." While he admits that he made the character more sophisticated than his actual historical personage did, he definitely changed the whole scene of his ending, including allowing him 10 more years than he actually lived. There is a lot of poetic license in this account of an historic figure of our early northwest development, so much so that he is the only child (along with his mother) to ever be depicted on a US (gold) dollar coin. Still, Blevins catches the major events in the man's life, most particularly Clark's insistence on Baptiste's education, and his introduction to a German prince who took him home to Germany and introduced him to royal society as well as traveled to Africa. When he returned to the frontier, he was fluent in German, Spanish, and French (as well as the language of the tribes he was acquainted with through his mother). Baptiste went on to enjoy a number of vocations, including guiding and trapping and spent his years in the high mountains of the rugged northwest. Blevins includes notes from the journals of Lewis and Clark, as well as letters, and peripheral historical documents. Interesting were the recitals of native songs, though I doubt Charbonneau was as gifted musically as might be Blevins himself. I downloaded this book from an offering on BookBub and recognized the author's name that I've read and reviewed previously. Really, it is a touching and emotional tribute to the native peoples and a personal bow of acknowledgement to Charbonneau for his contribution. Recommended for a compelling fiction read.