The First to Go West - by Tom Clavin & Bob Drury (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Previously published under the title Throne of Grace

The explosive true saga of the legendary adventurer Jedediah Smith and the Mountain Men who explored the American frontier, written by New York Times bestselling authors of Blood and Treasure Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.

It is the early 19th century, and the land recently purchased by President Thomas Jefferson stretches west for thousands of miles. Who inhabits this vast new garden of Eden? What strange beasts and natural formations can be found? Thus was the birth of Manifest Destiny and the resulting bloody battles with Indigenous tribes encountered by white explorers. Also in this volatile mix are the grizzled fur trappers and mountain men, waging war against the Native American tribes whose lands they traverse.

This is the setting of First to Go West, and the guide to this epic narrative is arguably America's greatest yet most unsung pathfinder, Jedediah Smith. His explorations into the forested frontiers on both sides of the Rocky Mountains and all the way to the West Coast would become the stuff of legend. Thanks to painstaking research and riveting writing, the story of the making of modern America is told through the eyes of both the ordinary and memorable men and women, settlers and Indigenous, who witnessed it. But it's Smith who drives the narrative with his trailblazing path through the unexplored terrain of the American West.

The First to Go West is a gripping yarn that drops the reader into the center of an underreported era and introduces one of the great explorers in American history.

Review Quotes

Praise for The First to Go West and Bob Drury and Tom Clavin:

"Jedediah Smith might be one of the most important, and one of the most overlooked, 19th century explorers in our nation's history. Authors Clavin and Drury ... are correcting that oversight." --Los Angeles Times on The First to Go West

"The First to Go West should be considered one of the best biographies of Jedediah Smith and best Western history books of the year ... the writing duo of Drury and Clavin has become well-established in the genre of popular Western history, and the genre is better for it. [Drury and Clavin] have a dynamic literary style that brings history alive and accessible for the modern reader." --True West

"A lively account of the remarkable life of one of the men who led the U.S. into the vast West." --Kirkus (starred review) on The First to Go West

"Drury and Clavin bring adventure and danger to life in this excellent narrative history of a largely forgotten chapter in the American story." --Booklist on The First to Go West

"With its muscular prose and expert storytelling, The Last Hill deserves to stand beside Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers as one of the truly epic--and intimate--accounts of American heroism and sacrifice in World War II. " --Wall Street Journal

"In this exhaustive history ... Drury and Clavin pack the narrative with biographical details about the Rangers and skillfully toggle between battle scenes and big-picture analysis. WWII buffs will savor this deep dive." --Publishers Weekly on The Last Hill

"Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, challenge conventional wisdom about an American origin story and, in the process, weave a tale fit for the big screen." --Washington Free Beacon on Blood and Treasure

"Bob Drury and Tom Clavin together have given us a half-dozen elegantly written narratives of exhilarating episodes in American history. [Blood and Treasure] may be the authors' finest work to date. Redolent of time and place, a raw and rugged tale." --Wall Street Journal

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