The Bents might be the most famous family in the history of the American West. From the 1820s to 1920 they participated in many of the major events that shaped the Rocky Mountains and Southern Plains. They trapped beaver, navigated the Santa Fe Trail, intermarried with powerful Indian tribes, governed territories, became Indian agents, fought against the US government, acquired land grants, and created historical narratives. 

The Bent family’s financial and political success through the mid-19th century derived from the marriages of Bent men to women of influential borderland families - New Mexican and Southern Cheyenne. When mineral discoveries, the Civil War, and railroad construction led to territorial expansions that threatened to overwhelm the West’s oldest inhabitants and their relatives, the Bents took up education, diplomacy, violence, entrepreneurialism, and the writing of history to maintain their status and influence. 

In Blood in the Borderlands David C. Beyreis provides an in-depth portrait of how the Bent family creatively adapted in the face of difficult circumstances. The Bent family history is a remarkable story of intercultural cooperation, horrific violence, and pragmatic adaptability in the face of expanding American power.

The book is published by University of Nebraska Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

“A remarkable book about what may well have been the most remarkable family of the American West.” (Pekka Hämäläinen, author of The Comanche Empire)

“That rare volume that really should appeal to scholars and lay people alike.” (Andrew R. Graybill, author of The Red and the White: A Family Saga of the American West)