Customer Reviews

The Conquerors (Winning of America Series)

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4 star:		(1)
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Since a co-worker introduced me to Eckert's 'Narratives' series, I don't find time for much else. I finished Wilderness Empire, the Conquerer and am now into The Frontiersman. This has not only been a great learning experience, but an absolutely fascinating account of the American Indians, French, English, and early American colonists and the conflicts involved in the taking of America. Historic characters such as George Washington, Daniel Boone and Chiefs Pontiac and Tecumsah, come to life in a narrative that makes you feel that you are there. Eckert is a master of presenting an objective viewpoint of history - as opposed to presenting history in the viewpoint of the victors, usually the norm.

Thank you Mr. Eckert for taking the BOREDOM out of history. The graphic (and realistic) details of the struggle on the frontier captured my attention from start to finish. I can't wait to move on to the next in the series.

This is another of Allan W. Eckert's Winning of America series. This installment deals with the bloody Indian uprising in 1763 attributed to the Ottawa chief Pontiac in the days following the fall of New France to the British during the French and Indian War. In actuality, Pontiac was not so much the leader as the initial inspiration for a frontier-wide attempt by the Great Lakes Indians to rise up and overthrow their British conquerors and restore their French allies to control of the lands west of the Alleghenies.

The uprising was a result of agressive and arrogant British policies toward the Indians, whom the British commander-in-chief Jeffery Amherst viewed as a dangerous and barbaric race that deserved to be exterminated. Against the advice of his advisors and officers, Amherst had instituted a blatant anti-Indian policy forbidding the sale of arms and ammunition to the western tribes which had the effect of effectively starving them out as they could no longer hunt and provide for themselves, a direct result of the near-total dependence of the tribes on European trade goods. When the British assumed control of the former French forts and settlements in the Northwest, the stage was set for a terrible confrontation.

Pontiac's uprising was one of the largest and nearly successful Indian rebellions in North American history, with the Indians for a time controlling nearly all the forts in the Northwest territory and laying seige to Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt. It was only with Colonel Henry Bouquet's victory at Bushy Run and the subsequent march of Bouquet and Bradstreet's armies into the Ohio country that finally quelled the bloodshed. The failure of the rebellion ultimately showed that the British were there to stay and that not only was the power of the French in America smashed forever, but that the symbiotic relationship between the whites and the native tribes was coming to an end, and with it the Indians way of life.

Eckert brings the story alive with great historical characters like Pontiac, George Croghan, Alexander Henry, Robert Rogers, John Bradstreet, and Henry Bouquet and depicts the important events that helped shape the early western frontier that would one day become the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Highly recommended.

Allan Eckert has a way of writing historical books that will make even someone that is not a history buff love history. I try and try to read the historical reference books but I find them to be very uneventful and boring. Allan Eckert can turn that into a thrilling novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat without losing its historical accuracy. All the books in this series are great. The Conquerors is very, very interesting.

I'm hooked on these Allan Eckert books. The Conquerors has a multitude of characters to follow in this work. All of their true experiences are nail biting. I find myself following their paths by searching all of the maps that are included in the book. I plan on reading all 6 of his 600 plus page novels.

This series is outstanding. These books are filled with actual historical dates, events, letters and people but with amazing readilbiity. I am not a huge history buff but these books pull you into the characters and their lives. I learned more fun history about this time through these books than while in school.

This is one of the better books in the Eckert series. I'd strongly recommend it for any history fan, and would definately encourage non-history fans to read this or any of Eckert's other books (Dark and Bloody River, Frontiersmen, Tecumseh).

Allen Eckert has a wonderful, unique style that brings life to real history. I would recomment any of his works to anyone with an interest in the American Indian, the settling of America, or the lives of pioneers. The book is a large paperback.

This book is excellent - The first copy I had fell into pieces - had to order another copy from Amazon.

Have all four volumes, I could not put any one of the four down.Outstanding American history in narrative form.