Customer Reviews

The Wilderness War: A Narrative

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eckert is a master at narrating and telling history in as gripping and compelling a fashion as you will find. This entire series is so extremely interesting and filled with drama and information you will not learn in school.

This book, Wilderness War, takes the reader from the end of the French Indian War, through the Revolutionary War in America and tells the tale of the Indian involvement. During this time, the Iroquois League is ripped apart and those strong Indian nations dispossessed of their homelands.

Despite the leadership and commitment of the chief Thayendanegea, their war chief (also known as Joseph Brant), and despite the manueverings and alliance with Sir William Johnson, the mighty Iroquois are defeated.

I would recommend Eckert to anyone desiring a more in depth look at the Indian Wars and the overall history of the Eastern United States.

This is an extremely well written book, that is easy to understand. It gives interesting excerpts about the main characters, not just the cut and dry facts about the Revolutionary War taking place on the Pennsylvania and New York frontier. The author tries to give a fair review of the battles taking place from both sides of the war, but is perhaps a little biased in favor of the American Patriots. The book has several maps throughout that help a great deal in following the battles. My only disappointment is that the book ends when the Sullivan Campaign ends, which was not really the end of the Revolutionary War. Only a paragraph in the epilogue refers to Joseph Brant continuing the warfare, as if he alone battled on after Sullivan's campaign. Yet, what was written to that point was the best I have read, so far on the Frontier battles.

The Winning of America series is a highly accurate and well researched historical work. Anyone interested in the development of North America will find this 6 volume work a great read. I question the presentation method of the footnotes but it is a minor inconvenience. Read as individual volumes the work can be enjoyed but I really recommend the entire series to anyone with interest in the subject.

I only rate this book a 4, because the first book in the series, "The Frontiersman" is the best, and I rated it a 5. But really, this book is great reading.

This is the best series I ever read. These stories make me humble to be an American.

The Wilderness War gives a factual, detailed account of the last years of the Iroquois Empire and the first years of the American nation.

During the French and Indian War, the famed Iroquois Confederation, which ruled the Northeast for 250 years, had ruptured. As the fractured union sides with Great Britain 20 years later during the American Revolution, the Iroquois are ultimately destroyed by Washington's decision to send General John Sullivan's army to not only completely annihilate, but also dispossess, this most effective, British Indian Army from its ancestral lands. For over 250 years the Iroquois had been power brokers within the Northeast but no more. After Sullivan's total destruction of their homeland, they become wanderers, who, for the most part, head west to become traders and trappers participating in the Western fur trade.

This is the story of how Washington's well justified order resulted in the complete annihilation of not just a race, but an entire culture. Exceptionally researched, detailed and written, this is a most compelling account of an aspect of America's Revolutionary War that is almost never covered in histories of the revolution. It is the story of the continuing expansion of America's frontier when that meant central New York State. Like all of Eckert's work, it is filled with the people who lived it, who participated in it and survived the savage butchery that occurred.

As typical with Allan Eckert the details and writing style put me there. A wonderful book that should be read if this subject matter interests you.

This is one of the weaker books in Eckert's series, but it was still a good read. I'd recommend it for any Eckert fan, or any other American-History fan. You should definately read the other books in the series!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is well written and factually correct to my knowledge. I grew up in the area where many of these events took place and learned about them in my elementary school days in a dry and factual way. This book made the events come to life in an interesting and facinating way for me.

I bought the series some years ago and have lost one and would like to replace it. I would also like to have my books autographed by Mr. Eckert.

I have recommended this writer to many friends and have bought the soft cover prints for several.