Picture this: it's the early 1800s, the Louisiana Purchase has just opened up the West, and a rugged band of trappers heads into the Rockies chasing beaver pelts. That's the world Steven Rinella pulls you into with MeatEater's American History: The Mountain Men (1806-1840), his latest audiobook from the MeatEater crew.
These weren't mythologized heroes from old Westerns. Mountain men like Jim Bridger, who mapped uncharted rivers; Jedidiah Smith, the devout explorer who crossed the Mojave; and Hugh Glass, mauled by a grizzly yet crawling miles to safety—they lived on the edge. Out of maybe 3,000 total over decades, one in ten met violent ends: ambushes, freezes, or beast attacks. Rinella narrates their stories with the authenticity of someone who's spent years in the wild himself, drawing from the MeatEater Podcast's storytelling style.
It's not dry textbook stuff. Rinella paints vivid scenes: the stench of wet fur, the crack of rifle shots echoing off peaks, the tense parleys with tribes who knew the land better than anyone. You'll learn how these men adapted—crafting snowshoes from hides, reading weather in the wind—and why their era ended with overhunting and market shifts. But their legacy? That fierce independence still echoes in our backyard adventures today.
If you've binged Yellowstone or wondered about the real fur trade, this hits home. History fans get the facts; outdoor enthusiasts get the feels of surviving off-grid. Pop it on during your next commute or camping trip, and suddenly that trail you're on feels a little wilder. It's the kind of listen that sticks, reminding us where our love for the untamed comes from.
Grab this Audible original and let the mountain men's world roar to life in your ears. Your next adventure starts here.
