...is described in romantic detail both by Mr. McCracken and by Lee J. Ames, whose idealistic and sculpturally perfect colored pictures decorate each page. Chapters range in chronological sequence from Boone's Kentucky venture to the Gold Rush and the coming of the railroad. But while they stress the sturdier elements of peaceful settlement there is an unsatural emphasis on an overall selflessness that certainly cannot be said to have characterized the period. Useful perhaps as a bridge from the comics.