{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"site_cron_amazon_bestseller_frontier_20261027T020001Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400031109?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"1400031109","authors":["Hampton Sides"],"book_id":"9781400031108","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/blood-and-thunder-1400031109","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781400031108.jpg?v=4757bdb1ebbc7fac","description":"NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Ghost Soldiers comes an eye-opening history of the American conquest of the West—\"a story full of authority and color, truth and prophecy\" (The New York Times Book Review). In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781400031108","publication_date":"20071009","publisher":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","slug":"blood-and-thunder","subtitle":"The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West","title":"Blood and Thunder"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036130","confidence_band":"unbanded","label":"Southwest U.S. History","score":0.4,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036040","confidence_band":"unbanded","label":"19th-Century America","score":0.33,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS028000","confidence_band":"unbanded","label":"Native American History","score":0.41,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036130","confidence_band":"unbanded","label":"Southwest U.S. History","score":0.4,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036040","confidence_band":"unbanded","label":"19th-Century America","score":0.33,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS028000","confidence_band":"unbanded","label":"Native American History","score":0.41,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BIO008000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Military Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS028000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Native American History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036040","confidence_band":"high","label":"19th-Century America","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Southwest U.S. History","score":0.4,"slug":"southwest-u-s-history"},{"label":"19th-Century America","score":0.33,"slug":"19th-century-america"},{"label":"Native American History","score":0.41,"slug":"native-american-history"}],"reader_fit":["For readers interested in the history of the American conquest of the West","For readers interested in Kit Carson and the U.S.–Navajo conflict"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Hampton Sides"],"book_id":"9781101971215","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781101971215.jpg?v=367002833c0edaf6","score":0.5082,"title":"On Desperate Ground","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781101971215"},{"authors":["Scott Brick","Nathaniel Philbrick","Penguin Audio"],"book_id":"9780593511398","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593511398.jpg?v=f96822d44f9e6819","score":0.5004,"title":"Valiant Ambition","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593511398"},{"authors":["S. 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