Customer Reviews

The Frontiersmen

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Give this book to your history-hating teenager and make him start to read it. Most likely once he starts, he won't want to quit. This is historical writing at its finest. While there are a few facts I would argue with, I can not possibly recommend any other book on history that can capture the imagination of the reader and make one just want to read on and on. If there was ever a book that makes history "come alive," this is it.
There are four other books in this series, but this is, in my opinion, the best of them. I first read this book years ago. It opened my eyes to how exciting history can be. It also opened my eyes to how much history we are NOT taught in school. Twenty years later, this is still one of my favorite books of all time.
I have read hundreds and hundreds of books. I have read very few of them twice. This is one of them--and I will probably read it again someday.
There are those who criticize Allan Eckert for his "historical narrative" method of writing, but I am convinced that this is because they are jealous of his success. Allan Eckert has done those who enjoy history a tremendous favor with his books by showing us just how exciting and interesting history is.

I have read all of Eckert's colonial and early American novels about the Indian nations and wars that raged for almost two hundred years. He is one of the best story tellers you will find.

In this novel, the Frontiersman, in the company of such notable and famous names as George Rogers Clark, Daniel Boone, William Henry Harrison, and Anthony Wayne, Eckert tells the story of Simon Kenton, perhaps the most compelling frontiersman of that time, despite his more famous protoges.

The savagry and commitment by both sides to the fight for Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley are brought to life by Eckert. You would think you were reading a finely told fictional thriller, when in fact you are being presented with very well documented fact, woven together to read better than any fictional novel you could find.

If you want to delve into the real history of the taming of America...read Eckert.

I love this book! Eckert's classic tale of Simon Kenton and settlement of the Ohio Valley is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the United States. This book was recommended to me after reading Eckert's "Dark and Bloody River". It is exciting, highly engaging, and historically detailed. The notes at the end of the book are a novel by themselves. The story of Kenton, Boone, and the Kentucky settlers is truly amazing. It has often been said that this should be required reading in high school and I can't help but agree. Eckert's books take place in a time and place nearly forgotten by modern Americans. Children raised on the old "Cowboys and Indians" westerns never learn that there was a whole other "West" on the Eastern frontier and the Northwest Territory. I grew up in Ohio, and I never learned about many of the events that happened in my own back yeard until I began reading Eckert! Many people are surprised to learn that there were a number of very bloody and significant battles during the Revolutionary War west of the Appalaichans, right here in Ohio in fact. A whole chapter of our history is being forgotten, but luckily, Eckert's books help to prevent that.

I am the type that likes Tolkein, Frank Herbert, Terry Brooks, C.S Lewis, Terry Goodkind, and other SF/Fantasy writers. I was absolutely enthralled by this book. At first I found it slow, but when I got to chapter two I had a hard time putting the book down. Simon Kenton is amazing and his true story is better than most fiction novels I have read. I suppose because I kept saying to myself, "this story is true" and "this man is amazing." There were several times that reading this book gave me that feeling that causes the hairs on your back to stand on end. Chills up the spine! And there were several times I couldn't put down the book until I knew that Simon would be alright. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that many fiction writers have used portions of this and added elements of magic and fairy to make their stories more interesting.
I love characters that are built up the the author to be someone who can be looked up to. Eckert has done this by simply telling a true story of a very interesting man who I had never heard of before reading this book. Eckert descriptions are detailed and his style of writing is easy to read. Simon is my latest hero. What an amazing individual.

I last read this book two years ago and plan to read it again soon. I honestly could not put it down! It is a true story of Simon Kenton who as a teenager became one of the bravest and most skilled frontiersmen of the late 1700s. He became a friend of Daniel Boone and in fact saved his life in a daring rescue at Boonsboro. The book includes many detailed facts gathered from diaries, memoirs, historical records and many other sources and each is carefully footnoted. Many references are made to geographical locations of events so that you can actually drive up to the place where these historical events occurred. It is history turned into a novel and is very enjoyable reading.

The Frontiersmen is one of the best historical books I've ever read. Eckert's entire series is great, but especially Frontiersmen, Conquerors and Wilderness Empire. The stories of Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, Blue Jacket and Tecumseh come to life and seem to be fair to the frontiersmen and the American Indian tribes. Even if you're not a big history buff, you'll love it. A must read for anyone from Ohio, Kentucky or West Virginia.

THE FRONTIERSMEN, by Allan W. Eckert, is the first of the six NARRATIVES OF AMERICA series books. These books were initially published in hardcover under the generic series title, "THE WINNING OF AMERICA." It is a fascinating true historical narrative of frontier activities and life from the middle 1700's to the early 1800's. It revolves around a prominent frontiersman, Simon Kenton, who, although not as well-known in historical annals as Daniel Boone (who was a friend of Kenton's), nevertheless was every bit as instrumental if not more so in opening up the West.
It should be noted that Eckert has done extensive research on these narratives, and states that all characters in the narratives are real, and that even the conversations are documented. Eckert states in The Author's Note that "It should be borne in mind . . . that where dialogue takes place in this book, it is the actual quoted conversation from another source . . . or, in a few scattered instances, historical fact utilized in the form of conversation to maintain the dramatic narrative pace, but not at the expense of historical accuracy."
Through Eckert's gifted writing, we get as close as is humanly possible to reliving the actual events of the narrative. The Frontiersmen is history at its best--this is history alive.

An outstanding and well researched work by one of the great authors of early American history. I have read this book three times over the years, and each time I read it I learned something new. Mr. Eckert has written a volume that undoubtedly tells the truth of the early conflict between the American Indians and the white settlers of this young country. Unfortunately, the information in this book is not what is taught in schools, but should be. Students of history deserve to know the truth about the settling of this country, and in this book, as well as the remaining volumes of Mr. Eckert's Winning of America Series, they have it.

This is a fantastic book if you love Early American Historical Narratives which I love. I first read this book about twenty years ago, and recently read it again. The author's foot notes and reference material allow you to really dive into the time period of the book!

Frontiersman Simon Kenton is reputed to be the historical figure upon whom James Fenimore Cooper modeled the Natty Bumppo character of his Leatherstocking Tales, and in particular the Hawkeye character of Last of the Mohicans. In this biography, the author tells the story of Kenton utilizing a narrative, "novelistic" format which -- while copiously footnoted to ensure authenticity and thus clearly not an "historical novel" but, rather, a true biography -- reads with all the page-turning suspense and excitement of the Cooper novels, if not more. In addition, as indicated by the plural usage in the title, the book is not solely about Kenton. The book intertwines the story of Kenton with that of the visionary Indian leader Tecumseh, a rough contemporary of Kenton and probably the last best hope of Native Americans to have maintained political independence in the face of European expansion. Thus the settlement of America is presented in compelling fashion through the stories of both one of the great early American frontiersmen and one of the great Native American leaders of the same era.