Title: Exceptionally well done
Product review: Shirley Christian's work on the legacy of the Chouteau family should be considered the definitive on this subject area. After reading numerous books on the fur trade, it was enlightening and a treat to learn so much of the importance of this intriguing ancestry.From the days of establishing St. Louis in 1764 by Pierre Laclede Liguest (Chouteau) and his fourteen year old son Auguste Chouteau, up to circa 1850's, Christian leaves no stone unturned. How this extensive family was so instrumental in the politics, economy, real estate, Indian affairs, groundwork of western expansion, etc. is truly a saga of fascination.It is fortunate that the author included the Chouteau family tree as the names can become quite confusing (many Pierre's, Auguste's, Chouteau's, inter-marriages with the Gratiot's, Papin's and Labbadie's).Although not totally devoted to the era "before" Lewis and Clark, it is nevertheless an absorbing and accommodating read, extensively researched.
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