American Primeval has hit Netflix, and in the two days since its release, it has already become a hit. The American Frontier setting, coupled with the characters created for the show, have pulled people in around the globe.
If you’ve binged all six episodes and are itching for more tales from the American Frontier, there are a lot of options available to you, including TV and movies alike. However, perhaps the best way to lose yourself in tales from the Midwest is through books, and there are a lot of tales to choose from.
If you want something to read, here are ten of the best books you can pick up that will provide the same haunting feeling as American Primeval. There’s a mixture of fact and fiction here, and even some entries that bridge the gap between both.
The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks
Although American Primeval is based in fiction, there are historical events featured in the timeline of the show. One of these is the very real Mountain Meadows Massacre, which took place in September 1857 and saw the deaths of at least 120 members of the Baker-Fancher emigrant wagon train at the hands of the Mormon militia.
The true events of the event featured in the show can be learned from Juanita Brooks’ non-fiction retelling of them in The Mountain Meadows Massacre. The events themselves are harrowing, but the aftermath is almost scary thanks to the oath made by those who were there to never speak of it again, with justice only being handed down to one of the perpetrators 20 years later.
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Although the events described in Killers of the Flower Moon take place after the turn of the 20th century, it’s still worth a read if you want to truly learn about the persecution and unfair treatment of Native Americans throughout history. This book is also non-fiction, and tells the story of what happened in the early 1920s when oil was discovered in Osage County, Oklahoma and a series of murders killed wealthy members of the Osage community.
This event is credited as the “birth of the FBI”, with the newly formed organization taking charge of the investigation into the murders and eventually convicting a cattleman named William King Hale as the mastermind behind the gruesome plan. There is a movie adaptation of events, released in 2023 and starring Robert De Niro as Hale.
The Revenant by Michael Punke
The Revenant skirts the border between fact and fiction, with the story based on very real, and very gruesome events. The Revenant is based on a series of events in the life of Hugh Glass, who was left for dead by his expedition mates in 1823 when he was mauled by a grizzly bear, and carrying him began to slow them down.
Alone and without protection or provisions, Glass went on to reset his own leg and allowed maggots to eat the infected flesh in the wounds leftover by the bear attack. He crawled over the land and eventually built a raft to take him downstream to Fort Kiowa. This whole story is one of absolute perseverance, determination to survive, and is incredibly inspiring to read, although I wouldn’t recommend doing so if you’re squeamish.
The Journals of Lewis and Clark
If you want to know how the American Frontier became to be mapped and understood, then look no further than the Journals of Lewis and Clark. Meriweather Lewis was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to lead the expedition from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast, mapping the things they found and revealing the frontier for all to see.
William Clark was the co-captain on this expedition, and their joint journal is filled with information about not only the rivers and locations, but also the flora and fauna they encountered, meetings with native tribes, and everything they came to learn on the trip. Factual and awe inspiring, definitely worth a read in your lifetime.
One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker
The American Frontier was a vast swathe of mostly unknown land and sometimes neighbors could be few and far between. The Bemis and Webber families were the only people around for miles, and must rely on each other to survive. However, when Mrs. Bemis is found in a less than favorable position with Mr. Webber, things take a turn when Mr. Bemis kills Mr. Webber, gets arrested and thrown in prison, and the two wives are left to fend for themselves.
In One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, Cora Bemis and Nettie Mae Webber, understandably, have fallen out over the whole ordeal. With winter coming and no one to help either of them aside from each other, they have no choice but to work together to keep themselves and their children alive through the cold months.
Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton
Voices from the Kansas Frontier is actually a rescued collection of hundreds of accounts written by Kansas pioneer women close to the turn of the 20th century. Stratton gathered these accounts and put them together in this book, and reading of the courage shown by those pioneer women is illuminating and inspiring.
These women made up the backbone of the American frontier, acting as schoolmarms, homesteaders, and riders. In this collection, their tales of locust plagues, prairie fires, and cowboy shootouts are all shared to give possibly the most accurate portrayal of what life was really like in the 1800s when they settled.
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Set in 1757, events in The Last of the Mohicans take place a century before those depicted in American Primeval, but war was already raging in North America and both sides are utlizing the Native American tribes in their battle to gain land and power.
The Last of the Mohicans sees Uncas, Chingachgook, and Hawkeye thrown into the middle of the French and Indian War in order to rescue the daughters of a British colonel after they’re kidnapped by an unhappy scout. As with American Primeval, the novel takes heavy inspiration from real life events, including the Siege of Fort William Henry.
True Grit by Charles Portis
Mattie is the main protagonist of True Grit, and she is on a mission to seek retribution for the murder of her father at the hands of a farmhand named Tom Chaney. The book was turned into a now infamous movie starring John Wayne just a year after its initial release, earning it a place in Western history.
Mattie is only 14 when she sets out to seek revenge for her fathers death, and is eventually joined by a Texas Ranger named Reuben J. Cogburn and a Marshal named LaBouef, who become central to the tale. This ends up being less a tale of revenge, and more about perseverance and begrudging friendships, and is always worth a read if you want to dive into the setting of the Wild West.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
First published in 1985, Blood Meridian has since gone on to be considered one of the greatest American novels of all time, and is now judged as McCarthy’s magnum opus, remaining one of his most well-known works. Events in this bloody tale revolve around a runaway named only as “the kid”, and his experience as part of the Glanton Gang. Like American Primeval, Blood Meridian takes a very real historical thing and fictionalizes it.
The Glanton Gang was a very real organization that was formed in 1849 and was hired by Mexican authorities to seek out Native war tribes and scalp them in retribution for attacking settlers. The gang were also partners in the Yuma Crossing on the Oklahoma River, rumoured to kill Native and American passengers to steal their possessions and money as they crossed.
To the Wild Horizon by Imogen Martin
I’ve saved possibly the best for last. If you want a fictional tale that’s similar to American Primeval, then you probably won’t find better than To The Wild Horizon, because it essentially has the exact same basic premise with a few of the details being changed. There are fewer Mormons to worry about, and relationships between characters are altered. However, with To the Wild Horizon being published in February 2024, it’s possible that it served as inspiration for the Netflix series, although that’s purely speculation on my part.
Set in Missouri in 1846, To the Wild Horizon centers around Grace, who is on the run after murdering her landlord (not husband) in self-defense, accompanied by her younger brother (not son) Tom. To escape the law, she joins the wagons en route to Oregon and crosses the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, doing whatever she needs to do so that they can both survive the journey. See what I mean about the premise, here?
Published: Jan 11, 2025 11:25 am