Tuesday, October 17, 2017

BOXED-IN AND LOVING IT!

BOXED-IN AND LOVING IT! Ironically, I find myself reading two books and their corroborating kin . One is the classic novel, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe, plus the KEY TO UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (1853), wherein she remits reams of citations and quotes from other sources and works confirming her assertions in her world-famous novel, whose accuracy had been questioned by proslavery critics. The second book involved in this dyad is : JIM BECKWOURTH by Elinor Wilson (1972). In it she audaciously disproves the beliefs, and the historical lies that this "black mountain man, explorer, guide, war chief of the crows, trader, frontiersman, interpreter, trapper and adventurer," was the "gaudy liar," that alleged scholars had later claimed him to be , based on his absolutely riveting autobiography: THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES P. BECKWOURTH, MOUNTAINEER, SCOUT, PIONEER AND CHIEF OF THE CROW NATION, written from his own dictation by T. D. Bonner (1856); which I am also reading. Funny it is how I found myself to be boxed-in as described. It is not worth telling; but I am thoroughly enjoying myself reading and comparing all.