Crow Killer, New Edition: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson

By Raymond W. Thorp, Jr., Robert Bunker and Nathan E. Bender

The movie Jeremiah Johnson introduced millions to the legendary mountain man, John Johnson. The real Johnson was a far cry from the Redford version. Standing 6'2" in his stocking feet and weighing nearly 250 pounds, he was a mountain man among mountain men, one of the toughest customers on the western frontier. As the story goes, one morning in 1847 Johnson returned to his Rocky Mountain trapper's cabin to find the remains of his murdered Indian wife and her unborn child. He vowed vengeance against an entire Indian tribe. Crow Killer tells of that one-man, decades-long war to avenge his beloved. Whether seen as a realistic glimpse of a long ago, fierce frontier world, or as a mythic retelling of the many tales spun around and by Johnson, Crow Killer is unforgettable. This new edition, redesigned for the first time, features an introduction by western frontier expert Nathan E. Bender and a glossary of Indian tribes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Release date: Jan 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9780253021229

Book preview

Reviews for Crow Killer, New Edition

[usnmm2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

read the real history of John Johnson the real mountain man behind the movie. A good read and source for any interested in mountain men. Raymond W. Thorp used Army records, journal entries, newspare accounts and oral histories to compile this biography of Johnson. What results is not only an interesting story of the man, but a fasinating into the lives of the fur trappers.

[mapconsultant · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is well done and "liver eater" Johnson was one tough hombre! Both fun and informative.

[kslade-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Probably read in 1979. Short but OK narrative of fanatical revenge mission of a mountain man against the Crows.

[thewallflower-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My in-laws have a cabin in Montana, and I think they bought this book because it mostly takes place in Montana and regions thereabouts, plus they like Westerns. It tells the story of "Liver-Eating Johnson", also known as John Johnson or Jeremiah Johnson (from the movie with Robert Redford, which is not a true story, but fictionalized. Kind of like 8-Mile), taken from the anecdotes gathered from the few living people who knew him.I don't like to read much non-fiction, but this book kicks ass. Johnson is one badass guy. He actually did what the book said--cut out the livers of the Crow who attacked him and ate them. For real-real, not for play-play. He killed every single Indian who was sent out to kill him. Even the twenty "special agents"--elite Crow warriors who were independently sent out to hunt and assassinate him. Like Indian ninjas. They hunted and tracked him, some waiting for four years before making their move. And Johnson killed them all. He killed the last one when he caught the guy rifling through his biscuits. It sucks to have all that hard work ruined because you couldn't wait for dinner.The book is not terribly long, and it's more than just Johnson killing everyone who gets in his way. His alliances switch as the various tribes use him as a pawn in their territory struggles. The Civil War, the Indian reservations, the logging industry, his friends getting killed -- Johnson has to deal with all of it. But he just wants to trap and trade, just like he's always done. And anyone who gets in his way gets scalped. This guy is a better Western icon than Billy the Kid and Wild Bill Hickok combined. He's like the Incredible Hulk if Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday were Captain America and Iron Man. I don't know why we don't learn more about him in school.