Customer Reviews

The Spirit of the Border

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

 

 

Zane Grey's second novel about life along the early American western frontier. Drawn from personal family history, he captures the brutality and the compassion of the early pioneers and the Indian nations that they were dispossessing.

Lewis Wetzel "Le vent de la mort", (Death Wind) is a prominent figure in this book. Wetzel is a genuine historical personage and is accurately portrayed as both a guardian to the border settlements and the Indian hater and killer he was known to be.

The book follows the life and adventures of two brothers Jim and Joe, Jim a Christian missionary and Joe a gregarious newcomer to frontier life. Wetzel always known as a loner, develops a friendship with the young man Joe and trains him in the ways of forest woodcraft. All the while Jim struggles to strengthen and protect the already established Morvian Indian mission. All of this set against the intrigue of Indian politics,war and the rampaging murders and kidnappings of the white renegades Simon and Jim Girty.

Although an historical novel, Zane Grey uses the various characters and happenings as a vehicle to give us a clear picture of the sentiment surrounding the precarious daily life for both the defenders of the Indian nations and those who acted as the American border rangers.

Read this book almost twenty years ago and this is one novel that made its greatest impact on me. Made me a Zane Grey fan. Lost my first copy so I ordered another one. Still find it a great read.

Zane Gray's books were the first westerns I ever read. I loved them then and I love them now. "The Spirit Of The Border" takes place in the Ohio River Valley. This is very close to home for me. Zane Gray mixes historical event into his stories. It is a fast moving and one you don't want to put down until you complete that last. If you have not read this, read it you will enjoy the adventure. By Ruth Thompson author of "The Bluegrass Dream" and "Natchez Above The River"