Crockett of Tennessee [Mass Market Paperback]

Cameron Judd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1994

The adventures, exploits, and accomplishments of legendary frontiersman Davy Crockett come alive in a fictional portrait that follows Crockett's life from youth, through his rise to political power, to his hero's death at the Alamo.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier. That snippet of song and the Disney television show for which it was the theme have become David Crockett's most enduring legacies. Judd, a prolific and very popular author of paperback westerns, sets out to change all that with this carefully researched historical novel offering a much less mythological profile of the remarkable Tennessean. Judd begins with Crockett as a young boy searching for his runaway dog. Soon it's David himselfa 14-year-old on a cattle drive to Virginiawho feels the wanderlust. Then come the adventures for which he became famous as an explorer, soldier, and Indian fighter. Judd also explores Crockett's political career, with emphasis on what his outspoken opposition to Andrew Jackson ultimately cost him, and, of course, he writes in great detail of Crockett's heroic demise as a volunteer at the Alamo; more interestingly, though, Judd explains how Crockett came to be there and what his plans were had he survived. Though the narrative flow in this very long novel occasionally gets bogged down in the abundance of historical detail, it is a heartfelt attempt to glimpse the soul of an American hero. By any standard, Judd succeeds. An afterword explains where Judd has fictionalized the storymainly in the creation of Crockett's pal, the rogue and scoundrel Persius Tarr. Wes Lukowsky

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Domain (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553568566
• ISBN-13: 978-0553568561
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,519,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crockett of Tennessee, June 3, 2000

By 

R. Sloan (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crockett of Tennessee (Mass Market Paperback)

Since we homeschool this book fit right into our curriculum for daily story time...the kids couldn't wait to hear what would happen next... I found myself sitting up late at night just to read on, as each chapter unfolded to provide dramatic insights about what the life of Davy Crockett may have been like...This book has creatively woven historical FACT with creative insight into the thoughts and life of this almost mythical man...After reading this, we had the opportunity to visit Crockett Tavern near Morristown,TN, and it really re-inforced the history that my children absorbed from this book. We had hoped to read "Boone, a Novel" also by Cameron Judd, but were disappointed to find that it was no longer in print...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crockett, by a Tennessean, November 16, 2007

By 

Joseph L. White (Nashville, TN, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crockett of Tennessee (Mass Market Paperback)

The novel "Crockett of Tennessee" is a fictionalized biography of an uncommon American frontiersman who frankly wouldn't be remembered except that he took strong political stances -- very often in opposition with his own best interests.

Cameron Judd has done a good job of sketching the real David Crockett (not "Davy," despite Walt Disney). In a marvelous scene in the book, Crockett meets President Andrew Jackson on a Washington City street after hours and argues with the President about just exactly who has shifted his views.

Crockett carries a good deal of historical weight as the avatar of the Scotch-Irish pioneer who pushes back the American frontier, damn the consequences and the Redskins. Cameron Judd's Crockett is not nearly so simplistic. Like Judd's character, the real David Crockett opposed the relocation of the eastern tribes and refused to take a more conciliatory political position. He lost his last campaign to be re-elected to the U.S. Congress.

In the wake of that campaign, he was quoted as having said, "You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas."

Cameron Judd, a Tennessean himself (graduated Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN, if I remember correctly) has given us a novel of a person far more real than the frontier legend of film.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Thumbs down, August 3, 2001

By 

M. Larsen "redneck_joe" (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crockett of Tennessee (Mass Market Paperback)

I read Judd's other book (Boone)about early frontiersman Daniel Boone and liked it so much i ran out and grabbed a copy of Crockett as soon as i could get my hands on it. I expected a similar tale of long hunting and trapping excursions, encounters with Indians, and an overall historical/fiction representation of this great outdoorsman's life. Unfortunately, as I read on, the main emphasis was more on Crockett's political ties and town life.

Might have been a good history lesson for some but sure wasn't what I was looking for. I had to put it down. Get Boone if you can find it. It's a much better book.