Daniel Boone: An American Life [Hardcover]

Michael A. Lofaro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2003

" The embodiment of the American hero, the man of action, the pathfinder, Daniel Boone represents the great adventure of his age -- the westward movement of the American people. Daniel Boone: An American Life brings together over thirty years of research in an extraordinary biography of the quintessential pioneer. Based on primary sources, the book depicts Boone through the eyes of those who knew him and within the historical contexts of his eighty-six years. The story of Daniel Boone offers new insights into the turbulent birth and growth of the nation and demonstrates why the frontier forms such a significant part of the American experience.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lofaro's work solidifies Daniel Boone both as man and American icon." -- Choice

"Lofaro's compact biography of Daniel Boone gives us that American icon all bone and sinew and without a trace of myth. It's a worthy addition to the literature of Manifest Destiny." -- Washington Times

"Well researched and well written.... Does much to bring this legendary figure to life." -- Avery Journal-Times

"This is the best recent biography of Boone. Carefully documented with attractive illustrations, a detailed bibliography and even a partial genealogy of the Boone family, it is recommended to all who have an interest in the history of our state." -- Bowling Green (KY) Daily News

"A book any serious early Americanist should buy for a personal collection or order for the library. It's readable, entertaining, full of useful and fascinating information, and short." -- East-Central Intelligencer

"Lofaro uses 30 years of research to realistically portray the master woodsman, a natural leader who was respected even by Native Americans, as he helped guide settlers and 'blazed trails' through the thick and wild undergrowth of Virginia, Kentucky, and other lands." -- Kentucky Monthly

"Distills the essence of the man, showing the historical pattern that serves as the basis for Boone's ambivalence toward civilization and, in so doing, illustrating the impact of the American Revolution on the Kentucky frontier.... A solid first book on Boone for both students and general readers." -- Library Journal

"Lofaro has written the most readable, succinct, and useable biography about Daniel Boone.... A pleasure to read." -- Missouri Historical Review

"Lofaro carefully sifts through the facts and stories to draw a detailed picture of the Kentucky pioneer.... A great read." -- New York Sun

"Lofaro has skillfully and authoritatively mapped the roots and routes of this wilderness wanderer who could not control his 'itching foot.'... Striding through battles and bloodshed, Boone breathes and lives in this work, lightened with humorous anecdotes and descriptions of frontier customs and traditions. Lofaro's exhaustive research is evident on every page." -- Publishers Weekly

"Lofaro's accessible and quintessentially decent survivor, a Boone who lived among violently discordant worldviews yet charted a humane, middle way between them, deserves serious consideration." -- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"An excellent factual narrative that is well-written, every bit as interesting and exciting as the tall tales, and with just enough references to the alternative legendary accounts to keep the reader grounded in facts." -- Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch

"Discredits some present-day assumptions about the life of the famous 'Long Hunter,' leaving in their place a more nuanced impression of Boone that surpasses the one-dimensional myths and lending complexity to the image of a frontier hero and the dynamic era in which he lived." -- The (Union Co, KY) Advocate

"Shot through with impressive scholarship that takes Boone, as much as possible, from myth and tall tales (and television-inspired error) and puts him into realistic historical perspective." -- Times of Acadiana

"Concise and readable, Lofaro's book seeks to escort Boone out of the realm of folklore and legend and seat him in the American pantheon next to his contemporary, George Washington." -- Virginia Quarterly Review

"Boone was one of the early nation's most influential figures. Lofaro's highly readable and lively biography does this frontier hero justice and does not shirk on providing historical context." -- Ellen Eslinger, DePaul University

"Boone the trailblazer, patriot, land speculator, politician, and Indian fighter, are fairly represented in the important American portrait." -- Journal of the West

"Full of artfully woven vignettes, stories, and anecdotes." -- Ohio Valley History

"A personable, touching literary portrait of the famed yet enigmatic explorer." -- Profile

"This brief and balanced book effectively distills what we know about Boone's life story into a crisply paced narrative." -- Stephen Aron, Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Michael A. Lofaro is Lindsay Young Professor of American and Cultural Studies and American Literature at the University of Tennessee. A recognized authority on the early frontier and the importance of frontier heroes such as Boone and Crockett in American life, he is the author or editor of twelve books, an online database, and more than seventy-five articles.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (September 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813122783
• ISBN-13: 978-0813122786
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,364,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Detailed Portrait of the Woodsman in the Wilderness, February 14, 2004

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Daniel Boone: An American Life (Hardcover)

I blame television. When reading _Daniel Boone: An American Life_ (University Press of Kentucky) by Michael A. Lofaro, I realized that I didn't know anything about Daniel Boone. I thought he wore a coonskin cap and was a contemporary of Davy Crockett, and maybe fought at the Alamo. I discovered at the end of the book that Lofaro blames television, too. Boone's fame to my generation comes from "...Fess Parker playing the lead in _Daniel Boone_, a historical disaster for baby-boomers who still confuse Boone with Crockett" because Parker sequentially played one then the other in the mid-fifties. Lofaro had insight on my own ignorance, and his book is shot through with impressive scholarship that takes Boone, as much as possible, from myth and tall tales (and television-inspired error) and puts him into realistic historical perspective. There is plenty here that is inspiring, and fit for legend-making, and also plenty to show that Daniel Boone had essential trouble in managing to get along with society. And also (_pace_ Davy Crockett), Boone hated coonskin caps.

He was born in Pennsylvania in 1734, to devout Quakers. His rudimentary schooling shows up in many excerpts from his writings here; for instance, it seems to be true that on an East Tennessee tree he carved the inscription "D. Boon cilled a Bar on tree in the year 1760." Boone did indeed become an accomplished woodsman and hunter, and was always less fit for the life of frontier farming. He had a pattern of reaching out to new lands; he had a wanderlust, to be sure, and encroaching civilization always meant that he had to move to new frontiers to hunt game, but he was always eager to apply the simple solution of moving away when having people live around him was just too complicated. He would be on the move all his life. He fought for the British (along with Washington) in the French and Indian War, and then against the British in the western version of the American Revolution, which consisted mostly of fighting Indians. He had prodigious skill in the outdoors, and there are many stories here of heroism and craftiness. Although he could always win battles against Indians, he could not win against lawyers, and was often in court because of disputed boundaries he had surveyed. He was guileless and always assumed that treating someone honestly would get him honest treatment in return, an assumption that he never seemed to learn was unwarranted.

Boone was amazed that he became famous. There was a bogus autobiography printed in 1784, that was translated into German and French, and made Boone internationally known. He was painted by the young John James Audubon. James Fennimore Cooper based much of Natty Bumppo on him, and in a note to one of the Leatherstocking Tales said that Boone headed out from Kentucky to Missouri in later life "because he found a population of ten to the square mile inconveniently crowded." Tales of Boone's dry wit became staples. He did indeed, when asked if he had ever gotten lost in the wilderness, reply, "No, I can't say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days." He blazed trails, most notably through the Cumberland Gap, and then was dismayed that they became widened for wagon travel and further encroachment by civilization. Ending up in Missouri, he spent his last years hunting buffalo and trapping beaver. He died at 85, as the nation was pushing further west and the wilds were more speedily declining. Lofaro's informative biography puts the brilliant pioneer and naïve citizen at the center of a complicated and longstanding war between settlers and Indians.

8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Daniel Boone, November 27, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Daniel Boone: An American Life (Hardcover)

This book tells how Dniel showed honesty and cofidince. Everything about Daniel Boone is in this book. If you have a report due on a leader this is want you want. I prefer this book to anyone.