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Hampton Sides is a narrative historian, best-selling author, and editor-at-large for Outside magazine. Mountain & Prairie listeners probably know Hampton best from his book "Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West," but the reality is that Blood and Thunder represents only a fraction of his work. "Hellhound on His Trail," "In the Kingdom of Ice," and "Ghost Soldiers" are a few of his other notable books, not to mention countless articles for Outside, National Geographic, and other well-known magazines. Hampton is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, but now splits his time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Colorado Springs, where he\u2019s the Journalist in Residence at Colorado College. \u2022 This podcast is a live recording of a conversation that Hampton and I had in front of an audience at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado. This public event was part of a four-day seminar about the history of the 19th Century American West, which was hosted by the Aspen Institute's Society of Fellows. Since the overall theme of the week was the West, Hampton and I focused our conversation on "Blood and Thunder," and chatted about the many topics presented in the book: the Navajos, the life of Kit Carson, Carson\u2019s obsession with loyalty, Manifest Destiny, historical misconceptions about the time period, Hampton\u2019s process for researching the book, and more. There are also a few minutes of Q&A from the audience toward the end of our talk. The Aspen Institute also filmed the event, so be sure to visit the podcast webpage if you want to watch the video. \u2022 Having the opportunity to speak with one of my all-time favorite authors at such an exceptional, world-renowned institution was a real dream come true. Endless thanks to the Aspen Institute for inviting me, and the same to Hampton for being so engaging, funny, knowledgeable, and down to earth. You\u2019re going to learn a lot from this episode, so I hope you enjoy listening\u2026 or watching! And if you haven\u2019t already, you should order and read Hampton\u2019s books as soon as possible\u2014you won\u2019t be disappointed. \u2022\u2022\u2022 VIDEO and EPISODE NOTES: http://mountainandprairie.com/hampton/ \u2022\u2022\u2022 TOPICS DISCUSSED: 2:40 - Welcome from the Aspen Institute 4:45 - Ed\u2019s intro 6:30 - Background on Navajos 9:15 - Overview of Kit Carson 13:30 - Polarizing views of Kit Carson 14:45 - Growth of the legend of Kit Carson 20:20 - Carson and John Fremont 24:45 - The downside of Carson\u2019s loyalty 27:45 - How to evaluate historical figures according to their time 32:30 - How Hampton researched the book 35:45 - Modern day societies attempts to right the wrongs 39:30 - Ideas for getting past today\u2019s divisiveness 41:40 - Hampton\u2019s book recommendations 43:50 - Heroes and mentors 47:00 - Audience Q&A 1:08:20 - Closing