The Frontiersmen: A Narrative

This is an amazing book! It has a high page count, but I flew through it, literally couldn’t put it down. Often I would stay up way later than I should have just to keep reading it. Great historical details, but written as a narrative making it very entertaining. An important era in the opening of Kentucky, Ohio, and further west. Highly recommended for history buffs and those who just like a great story.

It's hard to properly categorize this narrative. On the one hand, it's a story of Simon Kenton and Tecumseh, and on the other a larger examination of the settling of the Northwest Territory. It is both factual and fanciful. It is written in linear fashion, but on a timeline that often skips several months and sometimes years. By the end of it, you feel like you have read an unforgettable tale, full of horrendous and heroic deeds, and have a a good idea of what both settlers and the Native Americans had to endure. I didn't want to put it down. Highly recommended.

One of the best historical accounts of the early history of America. One cannot easily lay this book down. I read it years ago, lost it and recently reordered it. You will not be disappointed in this read. I live and grew up in the area that it covers and have learned things I never knew about my home. Truly a must read.

A vast narrative following the life and career of Daniel Boone's somewhat less well known junior contemporary on the early American frontier, Simon Kenton, and the parallel life and career of the Shawnee chieftain, Tecumseh, who tried to unite the disparate Indian tribes in a last ditch effort to stem the sweep of the American Republic over native American lands, this book is rich in research and in the drama of those times. Allan Eckert has used the technique of a novelist to bring the details of historical events to life as he follows the paths of Kenton and Tecumseh and the men and women around them, from Kenton's first foray over the Alleghenies into the wilderness in colonial times to the denouement in the War of 1812 when Tecumseh makes his last ditch effort to stop the white settlers. Recounted as a series of historical vignettes around the main characters and often taking on the trappings of fiction (because Eckert purports to take us inside the heads of these people and to report conversations and some events for which there is little or no record), this book is massive and sometimes daunting to read. Nevertheless, it succeeds in breathing life into the era and, if many of the characters seem somewhat thin and almost to blend into a certain sameness, the multifaceted personality of the illiterate Kenton and the finely drawn picture of the mysterious Tecumseh, makes it all worthwhile. I found myself wondering at times just how many of the reported miraclulous prophecies ascribed to Tecumseh, from predicting an eclipse to the appearance of a comet to the occurrence of a massive earthquake, were genuine -- after all, despite all these supposed successes, his basic prediction, that he would lead a united Indian nation to drive out the whites, did not come true. But the detail about the Indian culture and relations between the various tribes and with the whites was eye-opening and all of it made me ashamed of this aspect of the American past. Of course, we could not be what we are today if we hadn't supplanted the native peoples, and pretty much every nation in existence today is where it is as a result of driving out earlier inhabitants in much the same fashion. Still, one can't help rooting for the Indian side when presented with a book like this, even if the Indians were pretty cruel in their own right and the Americans did ultimately grow into a better nation than what we started out as. SWM author of The King of Vinland's Saga

Good read, packaged well

Great quality and packaging kept it in premium condition

Extremely well researched and presented. I ended up purchasing the book to give to my grandson.

This isnt a book, novel, or something you pick up read and pass the time. Its a journey thru our historical past. It may be the best period history read available regarding the frontier. Its a sizable book, but once you start reading you cant stop. When your not reading, you cant wait until you have some spare time to pick up where you left off. Its a shame that all books are not this entertainingly addictive. You have been warned………

Vor dem Umfang bin erst mal zurückgeschreckt, habe das Buch nun fast durch und empfehle es gerne weiter. Voraussetzung: höheres Interesse am Thema, die nötige Zeit und Freude am "Tagebuchstil". Dann liefert es jede Menge an Informationen und diese stehen im Vordergrund!

Brilliant book.so well researched. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the era.No movie could ever do this justice. Informative and at times shocking page turner.

Allan W Eckert brings the reality of frontier living, with all of its hardships and adversity, to life. An amazing read and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Mel Gibson mention this book on Joe Rogan, so I ordered it. Very good read.

History of the American frontier is what this book is all about. About the struggles not only of those pioneer frontiersmen but the Indians themselves. I’ve given it five stars for the content itself. But I did find it at times a struggle to keep reading it to the end. Which I am pleased to say I did.