A new book by Reilly Fellow Jon T. Coleman explores the myth of Hugh Glass, a hunter brutally mauled by a grizzly bear along the Yellowstone River in the summer of 1823. Glass, who survived the attack despite being abandoned by his hunting partners, became a mythic figure to those seeking adventure in the American West.
The book, Here Lies Hugh Glass: a Mountain Man, a Bear, and the Rise of the American Nation examines Glass’ survival story, his vow to exact revenge on those who abandoned him, and the way that published accounts of his ordeal portrayed the untamed American West to readers back east.
The Reilly Center for Science Technology, and Values, along with the Notre Dame Departments of History and American Studies and the ND-GLOBES program, co-sponsored a book launch on May 3rd featuring Drew Cayton, a Distinguished Professor of History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and a leading historian of the American frontier. Here Lies Hugh Glass was released on April 24, 2012 and is published by Hill & Wang.
Jon T. Coleman is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame as well the author of Vicious: Wolves and Men in America (Yale, 2004), which was awarded the W. Turrentine Jackson Prize and the John H. Dunning Prize, given by the American Historical Association for outstanding work in any area of U.S. History.