Customer Reviews

Frontiersman: Daniel Boone and the Making of America (Southern Biography Series)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a funny and entertaining book, and beautifully written. It is packed with fascinating information about life on the frontier and in the backwoods-- what they ate, how they caught it, who they slept with and how they died. You will learn how they loaded and fired a musket, as well as why a dollar bill is called a "buck".

The author does a masterful job of setting a larger historical and geographic context. The British, the French, the Indians, the struggle for control of the Ohio Valley, why Detroit and Louisville became what they did, the Revolution and Boone's ambiguous role in it.

The book portrays the complicated relationship between whites and Indians realistically and without mawkish sentimentality. Boone was captured by the Shawnees and adopted by the chief Blackfish. He lived with the Shawnees for close to a year and had an Indian wife. At the same time two of Boone's sons were tortured, scalped and killed by the Indians, and Boone buried their remains himself where he found them.

Not least, the book gives you the sense of what this lost world must have been like, and what kind of man Daniel Boone probably was. You get a detailed picture of how much America changed, and how much was lost and gained, within the single lifetime of Daniel Boone. This is a large accomplishment.

I've read a lot of American history but 'Frontiersman' gave me a better feel for life at the edge of the expanding American experience than any previous read. The ever-shifting relationships between hunters, gatherers and carpetbaggers of all stripes and ethnicities made simple survival paramount.... and still they pushed on. Brown captures both the romance and the grittiness of this and ties it all together in the life of its leader, the foremost of America's pioneers. Even the smells come through.

To read the other reviews, one would think that this is one of the great books of our day. We are told that it is funny, fascinating, brings events to life ("even the smells", no less). It is none of these. I actually would not have taken the time to review this book but for the exaggeration in the prior reviews.

This is a serviceable biography, but nothing more. The chapter describing Kentucky's role in the Revolutionary War is very well presented and left me wanting to learn more, and the endnoting system is excellent. Beyond that, the chapters ranged from good-enough to dry. And there are too many of the latter.

Since so many of reviewers rave of the quality of the book's writing, a few specific examples to the contrary are in order: The writing is too often repetitive (e.g., the author criticizes Filson's authorized biography time after time, and tells us four times (or was it five or six...or seven) that Filson re-wrote Boone's words, to say nothing of having used "purple prose" (a favorite phrase)). And the author has an annoying habit of again and again using the word "If" not to present a possibility but as a means of comparison ("If Rebecca was lonely and feared for her life in northwestern North Carolina in 1771, her life cannot have been better in 1775..." (p.27); "But if Boone talked of hunting, he also prepared for his own end." (P.253); and numerous times between). This is an awkward technique that sounds smart when one is a university student, and it would not merit comment here if it occurred once or twice. But we are treated to this construction repeatedly, and a better editor would have suggested more mature phrasing. There are other examples, but the larger point is that in too many places this book is a chore to read.

For all of the above, I did not hate this book. It is what it is: a decent biography of Daniel Boone. But I have to believe that there are better works. Interestingly, "Frontiersman" identifies six Boone biographies published since 1990 as having been relied upon significantly (author/editors Belue, Faragher, Houston, Lofaro, Hammon and Morgan). Before a reader purchases this book, he might first want to consider these or other alternatives.

I've read a lot about Daniel Boone over the years, partly because (like the author) my ancestors were his peers and near neighbors in both Kentucky and southern Indiana. The shaky signatures of some of my pioneer ancestors appear on the same petitions and other legal documents as Boone's name. Reading about the events of his life gives me some insight to the lives of my own people. On the other hand, do we need another biography of the man? Naturally, there have been many written over the years, beginning even before his own death in 1820, and several new ones have appeared in just the past few years. I can't say that I learned anything really new from this volume, but it's certainly very readable -- perhaps because Brown is an amateur historian, not a professional academic. He doesn't stint the footnotes, though. And he includes a considerable number of illustrations, too. If you're new to the subject, and especially if you simply have a taste for reading biographies, this one would be an excellent place to start.

Frontiersman is a fascinating new biography of that legendary man of the "wilderness", Daniel Boone. It is the story of a hero in constant peril--even captured and adopted by the dominant Indian tribe in Kentucky--who, against all the odds,survives to a ripe old age while almost all of his compatriots perish. Brown tells the exciting story with a detailed description of the life and culture of America's frontier at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. He captures the violence, the cruelty and the greed that seemed to drive all sides in this frontier battle for land and survival. An historic tale, beautifully told.

Brown brings alive life on the American frontier in the second half of the 18th century, an interesting mix ranging from global politics to battles over hunting rights with the indegenous Indian tribes. The description of living conditions during the era is truely fascinating - when Boone went on a "long hunt" by himself it was indeed long, at times lasting up to two years! Boone is more the cement that holds this wider-ranging story together, one researched with meticulous detail yet written in clear and easy to digest prose. A major accomplishment that covers a relatively unknown but critical part of the American story.

Meredith Mason Brown has written a wonderful book that goes beyond the life of Daniel Boone, as fascinating as that life was. As a Boone descendant I have read most of the current biographies, but was captivated by this one because of the wider history that Brown explores through Daniel Boone. For instance, it's common knowledge that not everyone supported the American Revolution at the time. But never have I read a better description of the reasons various groups of people might have chosen one side or another in that struggle -- and he doesn't just focus on settlers making the choice, but native peoples, as well. I also enjoyed Brown's description of the land surveys during the 18th and 19th centuries, and how the acquisition of land fueled the growth of wealth in the new country. The topic could have been a deadly section on statistics, but Brown brought the people to life, along with the processes in place to stake out, measure, and record land claims. The title of the book says it all -- Daniel Boone's life spanned the development of the new nation, and his accomplishments both determined and altered where and how we live in today's America. This book will definitely enhance your overall understanding of American history, and the lively writing provides pleasurable reading.

This was a very enjoyable book to read. It is an honest look at Daniel Boone, his strengths and his shortcomings. It has been well researched with a lot of information considering the limit on true facts available about Boone. I was able to get a feel for what life during Boone's time may have been like. The author makes some presumptions about what Boone's motives may have been at times, but they were clearly that and didn't take away from the value of the content. It was a revelation to me that Daniel Boone was raised as a Quaker and turned out as he did, but so was Nathaniel Greene and he too was a fighter and great leader. Above all, it becomes clear that Daniel Boone was a survivor and made decisions that appear to not have been based on an agenda. I ended this book thinking Daniel Boone pursued in life those things that he enjoyed and along the way became a legend of the American past. I recommend this book if you are interested in a fair evaluation of Daniel Boone.

Excellently researched information by the author that gave this book a realistic "feel" for the frontier era. The book helped me to better understand the life my ancestors dealt with as they emigrated west during that time. Wonderful book.

Being a semi student of history I really enjoyed this book. It was extremely well researched and contains a lot of detail yet the average reader will no doubt enjoy this unique look at one of early America's most colorful inhabitants Daniel Boone . I especially enjoyed the parts where the author shows how the our future was to be affected by the events of Boone's days such as the depletion of game animals and the population shifts that occurred during Boone's times and after. A good read for all.