THE LONG HUNTER: A New Biography of Daniel Boone

by Lawrence Elliott ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1976

Elliott's life of Daniel Boone should please both students and general readers with its successful blend of narrative flair and history. ""It has always saddened me,"" writes Elliott, ""that a historical figure as appealing as Daniel Boone had to be lost in legend, mythologized beyond recognition, for his story is more astonishing than any fiction."" A precocious woodsman in adolescence, Boone could never really adjust to a settled life. At home in North Carolina he was only an unsuccessful farmer, ""debtor and supplicant,"" ""the simple backwoodsman."" But his skills made him indispensable to the settlers moving into the untracked Indian country of Kentucky--typically, Boone left one step ahead of arrest for nonpayment of debt. This discomfort with the discipline imposed by society did not, however, stop him from becoming a successful military leader against the Indians and the British. But despite his large land grant in the new colony, Boone was soon involved in endless litigation and became the object of petty local jealousies. He moved west again, dying in oblivion; later he was to symbolize his era. By revealing his flaws and failures, Elliott develops a convincing picture of this most American of heroes and the times in which he lived.

Pub Date: March 1, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Reader's Digest--dist by T. Y. Crowell

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION