MeatEater's American History Audiobook By Steven Rinella cover art

MeatEater's American History

The Mountain Men (1806-1840)

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MeatEater's American History

By: Steven Rinella
Narrated by: Steven Rinella
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About this listen

From the creators of the New York Times bestselling audio series Campfire Stories and MeatEater’s American History comes a new audiobook original that plunges listeners into the untamed world of a celebrated and misunderstood group of nineteenth-century outdoorsmen: the Mountain Men.

Steven Rinella (The MeatEater Podcast) brings to life the legendary wilderness exploits of men such as Jim Bridger, Jedidiah Smith, and Hugh Glass, who headed out to the Rocky Mountains to trap beavers in the decades following the Louisiana Purchase. Living off the land and dodging grizzly bears, these colorful characters carved out an existence defined by their relationships with Native people, their capacity to endure the most trying conditions, and their intimate knowledge of the western landscape. This small fraternity of backwoodsmen—numbering only a few hundred at any point in time, and perhaps 3,000 total over the course of the era—not only lived in dramatic fashion, they died the same way: one in ten would suffer some sort of violent death in the wilds of the Rockies.

Their extraordinary feats—some heroic, others horrifying—helped define an era when the West represented not just unmapped territory, but untapped opportunity. And when a combination of economic and ecological factors caused their world to collapse, the mountain men left behind more than just tracks in the wilderness; they established an enduring archetype of independence, resilience, and an untamed spirit that still resonates through American culture today.

©2025 Steven Rinella (P)2025 Random House Audio
Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Americas Outdoors & Nature State & Local United States

What listeners say about MeatEater's American History

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Storytelling

Some folks just know how to spin yarns and tell tales and Rinella is one of those people. You can also tell the care that was taken in the exhaustive research. This is one you have to have in your library.

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Great story for anyone

This is a great, well researched story from meat eater. Wonderful history for anyone wanting to learn about the early American west.

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Another great one from Meat Eater

Needs more Clay Necomb and Brent Reaves. if you are not subscribed to the Bear Grease podcast you are missing some fantastic content. This Country Life is as wholesome as its gets.

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Fantastic adventure to the past

As always, Steve Rinella delivered a smooth and interesting production. Factual history delivered in a way to pique curiosity and harken the listener back to an old way of living that encompasses part of the beauty and tragedy of the growing pains of our great nation, lived by some overall tough men.

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The detail is crazy

The detail of all chapters is nuts and the similarity to the long hunters book is amazing as well. Those men were awesome

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The amount of detail!

Love it! It really brings home what these extraordinary people went through just to earn a living and explore the west!

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Narration

The pace of the book was refreshing. Easy listen. Easy learning. Another great book from the Meat Eater crew

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Love the mountain man stories

I really like the way Steve and the meateater crew approach projects like this. The way the information is delivered is clear, educational, and entertaining. My only complaint are the sound effects and little musical interludes that are added. They do nothing for the story and only serve as an irritation to me. Great audio book. Can’t wait for the next one.

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Knowledgeable!

Steve does a great job at depicting this time period and sharing a wealth of knowledge he’s learned!

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The stuff they don’t teach in public schools

Informative, well delivered entertainment on an ill understood staple in Americas timeline. I wonder who won the card game on the dead guy.

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