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How the West Was Lost: The Transformation of Kentucky From Daniel Boone to Henry Clay

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This was assigned reading in my Kentucky History class. It covers the founding and settlement of Kentucky. What makes the book is the brief glimpses it gives of the Forgotten Kentuckies:

-- Free Kentucky. When the land was a giant game reserve for Native Americans, full of trees and animals, but devoid of people. Where the buffalo literally roamed until white hunters brought about their extinction in just a matter of a few years.
-- Pioneer Kentucky. When small families lived in the middle of nowhere, battling Mother Nature and Indians. A world where some Native American tribes tried to assimilate captured white settlers, and some missionaries tried to lead converted Indians.
-- Chaotic Kentucky. When the lawyers and land speculators showed up, driving free-thinking spirits such as Daniel Boone away.
-- the Bluegrass Era of Henry Clay. When wild Kentucky transformed into a mini version of the Old Dominion with its slavery and aristocratic living.
-- Outlaw Kentucky. When the Green River and other parts of the state tried and failed to rebel against the establishment.
-- The Great Revival. When evengelical religious fervor swept the state, bringing the Shakers among others.

All in all, there's a little something here for everybody. It can be read on many levels. As an account of early Kentucky, a look at the worlds of Daniel Boone and Henry Clay, a case study on frontier expansion, or for just pure enjoyment.

Although specific to the early years of Kentucky, from its founding in the 1760's and 1770's by Daniel Boone and his pioneer cohorts, to the mercantile slave owning state overseen by Henry Clay in the early to mid 1800's, the author presents a story that seems like a parable of the conflict, between the public good and the ascendancy of a litigious economic upper class, that is both timely and familiar. The sweat and blood of the first settlers are seen to have been practically for naught as the defeat of the native American Indians only paved the way for actions that made legal access to land all but out of reach for the common man. Daniel Boone himself was seen to have judged clear title to any of the lands that he pioneered so difficult to obtain that he left Kentucky for Missouri.

Collusion between various moneyed interests (banks included) and real estate speculation and bubbles make the problems of early Kentucky seem strangely similar to those that we experience today. The role and evolution of evangelism are also explored, starting with the "Great Awakening" of the early 1800s. It is interesting to read that in those days born-again religion was seen as a democratizing popular movement. Part of the appeal of this new religious movement is that it was identified as standing apart from the deism exposed by the landed Bluegrass gentry and the city of Lexington.

Stephen Aron's book depicts the two conflicting ideals of how Kentucky is to go down into history by pioneer Daniel Boone and then, the powerful Henry Clay. A very good book answering all the questions of historical Trans-Appalacha. I feel as if Aron could have shortened the book and still be able to get the point across of the two opposing sides.