A Splendid Savage: The Restless Life of Frederick Russell Burnham

History is fickle and leaves many interesting stories and personalities on the precipice of Fame or lost to our collective memory. In some cases, it takes an entertaining life story and a good biographer or movie maker to capture s personality worth knowing. (Look what David Lean and Peter O'Toole did for T E Lawrence). In Splendid Savage (what Burnham called himself) Steven Kemper brings us the amazing adventures and history of Frederick Burnham who grew to only 5’ 4”. In later life got rich in an oil discovery on Dominguez Hill in Los Angeles; then building a mansion next to the Hollywoodland sign in the 1920s. He leads a wandering life as a scout, prospector, promoter, warrior who often ended up on what we might today deem the wrong side of history. Interestingly the author Kemper spends a great deal of the book using Burnham's life to open up a discussion of the history and perspective of events as they were accepted by most (whites) at the time. Pointing out for example that Burnham was both a conservationist at the same time he accepted racial eugenics and sided with colonial white settlements in Arizona, Rhodesia, and Mexico (and wished to import African animals to set up hunting preserves on federal lands.)Kemper sums up Burnham’s life this way. “He was endlessly willing to set off into the unknown and start over. His natural habitat was the frontier, a place of escape and hope and violence.” Here is just a shortlist of Burnham’s adventures: Born in 1862 on the Minnesota frontier whereas a baby escaped an Indian raid… he ended up living on his own in Los Angeles at the age of twelve… he became a scout and fought the Apaches… took part in range wars… prospected for gold (numerous times and places)… gave up on American (as too crowded) and moved to Africa (bringing his family which included his wife who was amazing in her own right)… in Africa, he scouted for Rhodesia and fought the Boers for the British… returned to Pasadena, Ca and bought an Orange grove (and several other ranches)… could never remain in one spot…returned to East Africa where he found the continents larges coal deposits… started up a colony of settlers in Mexico… went mining for gold in the Klondike … used his mining expertise and acquaintances to find valuable metals needed for WW! Weapons… knew Teddy Roosevelt and many notables of his time (always looking for investors and benefactors)… wrote his autobiography (the rights were bought by Earnest Hemingway who planed a TV series but who’s suicide came before he wrote a single script.)A large part of these amazing, unsettled, adventurous life can be told because of Burnham’s wife Blanch who saved his long and detailed letters. She had to learn to live alone for long periods of time although she did join Burnham on many trips. Burnham died at 86 in 1947 his life seeing a whirlwind of change.Although I have given the book a high rating and found it a very interesting and fact fill read I did find some sections that needed better editing and clarity. The African sections would have been helped with better maps and because I am unfamiliar with that area's geography so I found this narrative of battles and sides fought at times confusing. I much more enjoyed the descriptions of the Southwest and Alaska. Also, Kemper ends the book with a chapter highlighting many controversies about the truth of various exploits (mostly those in African campaigns as a scout). I found this interesting but it also seemed to undermine Kemper’s own belief and narrative of the events questioned. (Yet, he does a good job of debunking the attacks.) Like T E Lawrence, when one writes one’s own history the truth sometimes remains obscured by the fog of war. Botton line I am very happy I discovered Frederick Burnham even if he did participate and support some unsavory history.

I had heard quite a few people talking about this book and so finally decided I should check it out. I'm certainly glad I did as the book was a wonderful read and I was not disappointed in the slightest.If you study various periods of history certain names tend to continuously pop up as culturally relevant to the society of the era as a whole. For the late 1800's and early 1900's Russell was one of those names. The man lived such a wandering, extensive, and frankly full life that chronicling all of it would take a lifetime in and of itself, likely filling several volumes. That is of course assuming you can even compile enough surviving material to compose an accurate telling of F.B.R.'s entire life.What Steve Kemper has done here is compress that incredibly full life into what I would argue is one of the most fair, balanced, and accurate summaries of this extraordinary man [Russell] and his almost mythical life that I have yet to see.Russell was what I would consider to be the quintessential male archetype of his time, embodying those most masculine of traits for good or ill from the era which spawned him. Certainly no stranger to controversy (much of it long after his death) Russell is quite an interesting study in the often contradictory nature of man and his eternal struggle with his own cognitive dissonance.All in all I think Kemper did quite a fair job of accurately and fairly summarizing a man about whom much is exaggerated. If I had to come up with one complaint it would be that he does jump around a fair bit and can sometimes be a bit harder to follow, but this is likely to not be an issue for everyone.>Who this book is for: -People who enjoy biographies of fantastic and adventurous characters from history who accomplished an almost unthinkable amount in their lifetime>Who this book is not for: -People with a closed mind and preconceived notion of who F.B.R was and who are unwilling to absorb new information on the subject.TL;DR:If you like action/adventure stories about big characters and fantastical feats then give this a read.If not, then pass.

Well written history of an explorer, businessman, military officer, conservation leader

Recommend reading these book sequentially, "Scouting on Two Continents" first.

35 years ago I asked the screen writer John Milius if he’d considered telling Burnham’s story on film. His response, “nobody would believe it.” Kemper’s Splendid Savage reminds me of the truth of John’s words.This book contains a wealth of information collected from previously unpublished sources and does a great job of filling in the gaps left open in Burnham’s two books. Highly recommended to anyone interested in the history of the American West, the making of a Nation, the law of Unintended Consequences and certainly anything to do with the character traits and skill set required for Special Forces.A couple of critical reviewers were apparently put off by Kemper’s inclusion of Burnham’s (and Churchill’s and Teddy Roosevelt’s among others) views of race, but also including an explanation that these views were not unremarkable for the time. This hardly struck me as some sort of PC garbage, but rather taking the opportunity to suggest to a reader who was unfamiliar or appalled with these common views that they were in fact common and well-reasoned based on observation at the time.In any case, kudo’s to the author and I highly recommend the book. Mine was the Kindle version, but I’m buying a hard copy to put on my book shelf next to my original two volume set of Burnham and Richard Harding Davis’s work.

this book was a gift for my husband who knows a lot about Burnham, he really enjoyed it.

Talk about resilience, this story is one for our time.

dislike the attitudes of the past, but he had an amazing life, packed full of adventure.

This is a wonderful book. Unlike many dry, overly-academic biographies, the author manages to combine historical accuracy with creative storytelling. Burnham was a fascinating character, and this book does him justice. Highly recommended.

Item 100% as advertised