The One with Crow Killer

210. Title & Author: Crow Killer by Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker (128 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Biography

Completed: 7 January 2012

Summary & Review:

Setting out to make a life for himself in the boundless mountains of the American West, John Johnson becomes a legend among the rugged mountain men of the nineteenth century. When Johnson returns home from a winter of fur trapping, he discovers his Indian wife and unborn child murdered by a band of Crow warriors. Enraged by the deed, Johnson swears vengeance on the entire Crow nation and stalks, hunts, terrorizes, and kills the Crows with a single minded dedication. But, his signature deed during this vendetta gave his most lasting nickname: after killing and scalping a Crow, he would remove the liver and eat it raw, thus earning his nickname of “Liver-Eating” Johnson.

There was actually a lot more to this book than just Johnson’s trail of revenge against the Crows. The book chronicled Johnson’s entire life in the vast plains and mountains of the West as he trapped, made friends with mountain men, settlers, and Indians, fought in the Civil war, fought various battles and vendettas against dozens of Indian tribes, and became a legend. This was not a life for the faint of heart, but Johnson seems to have taken to it as if he were born for nothing else.

This book was recommended to me by my wife’s paternal grandfather, who was also kind enough to loan me his copy of the book to read. Thank you very much, J.A.T.


Rating: 7.0