David Crockett: The Man and the Legend [Paperback]

James Atkins Shackford (Author), John B. Shackford (Editor), Michael Lofaro (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 1994

Davy Crockett has been America's best-known folk hero for at least 160 years. This informed biography by James Atkins Shackford first appeared in 1956, at the height of the television-inspired Crockett craze. As Michael Lofaro notes in his introduction, "Shackford faced the monumental task of rescuing a nearly unknown David Crockett from the obscurity caused by the popularity of the earlier legendary Davys and deepened by Disney." He succeeded memorably, restoring David Crockett of Tennessee, a true pioneer and colorful figure even without romantic trappings.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Atkins Shackford was an assistant professor of English at North Carolina State University. Michael A. Lofaro, associate professor of English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is editor of Davy Crockett: The Man, the Legend, the Legacy, 1786-1986.

Product Details

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (September 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803292309
• ISBN-13: 978-0803292307
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,532,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Objective? yes. Well written? Absolutely not., July 1, 2003

By 

bixodoido (Utah, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: David Crockett: The Man and the Legend (Paperback)

This book, written in the height of the Crockett hysteria in the 1950's, attempts to present an objective view of the real David Crockett. Most of the book deals with Crockett the senator, not Crockett the backwoodsman or Crockett of the Alamo. In this, at least, the book is valuable, because it portrays a David Crockett far different from the Davy Crockett of Walt Disney or John Wayne.

The book is valuable in this respect, but it is poorly written. The author skips from one subject to another, making obscure references to events which are never explained and about which the reader is apparently supposed to be familiar. The argument is not well organized, and bounces around so much it is very difficult to follow, and the narrative is just as fragmentary. Inappropriate euphemisms and ill-fitting metaphors further clot this work and inhibit the flow of the narrative. Shackford, who was a professor of English and should have been a more capable writer, makes this account of Crockett's life very, very difficult to read.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Crockett, the man v. Davy Crockett, the legend, January 9, 2006

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: David Crockett: The Man and the Legend (Paperback)

This remains the definitive biography of David Crockett. Shackford is a firm believer that the real David Crockett is a much more interesting man than the legendary Davy Crockett, and although he recounts both the real and the legendary about the man here, it's the real he concentrates on - sometimes in great detail, but never to the point of totally overwhelming the reader.

Crockett was born in 1786 in Tennessee. His grandparents were killed by Indians near today's Rogersville, TN. From an early age Crockett was a drover between Tennessee and Virginia. A poor farmer but excellent hunter, he was able to put food on the family table with his gun. It is also here that some of the legendary accounts of his life begin, although some seemingly exaggerated exploits are true (killing over 100 bears in one season, for example, though the number would rise with the telling).

He volunteered in Andrew Jackson's army against the Creeks in Alabama, though he was glad when his service was through. After his wife died, he remarried and soon was involved in politics, getting elected to the Tennessee state legislature in 1821. He made many friends and was finally elected to Congress in 1827, after an unsuccessful bid two year earlier. It was in Washington that his legend rocketed. An ally of Jackson's, he became a symbol of "the common man." A play and biography about him fanned the legendary fire (they were more tall-tale than factual, as Shackford demonstrates), and his autobiography appeared in 1834. (Shackford dissects the autobiography carefully, noting that it was written with a great deal of help from Crockett's friend Thomas Chilton, and that it was Crockett who insisted that many of the exaggerations about him not be included; he also shows how most of what remained was true and accurate, which corrects past interpretations.)

Crockett didn't last long in Congress, mainly because of his strong support for "the little guy" (squatters' rights) and his opposition to Jackson's Indian removal policy, which he abhorred (interesting in light of his family's history). He went home, licked his wounds, and joined the Whig party. Re-elected to Congress as a Whig in 1833, he toured the eastern states, had more sensational biographies about him published, and began issuing (or rather had issued "for" him or "about" him) the famous Almanacs in which his exploits took on Olympian proportions. He was defeated in Congress again in 1835 and in November of that year, headed for Texas. He made his way to San Antonio in time to be among the slaughtered "immortals" killed at the Alamo by Santa Anna in February 1836.

Crockett's death, as related by editor Michael A. Lofaro in the Introduction, is interesting and quite different from many other accounts, including Shackford's own (based on "new information"). Apparently seven men, Crockett being one of them, were captured by Mexican soldiers and spared, in defiance of Santa Anna's orders that no prisoners were to be taken. Brought before Santa Anna, the soldiers pleaded for their lives and were outraged when Santa Anna ordered them killed immediately. It seems the men refused, but others more willing to obey orders committed the deed. Interestingly, this account had been known and recorded all along, but never thought to have been true; the standard "true" account had Crockett being killed, unarmed, at the very beginning of the battle.

Shackford's book has a magisterial quality about it in that he refuses to leave any stone unturned in getting the facts separated from the legends. There are appendices and an epilogue in which he discusses many of the legendary sources of Crockett's legacy. Some might find this very careful and painstaking examination slow going, but I found it fascinating. And he does write with style and authority. And, as I said, and as he rightly proves, the real David Crockett is a far more interesting personage than the mythical one - as it should be. An excellent historical biography; highly recommended.