ETHAN ALLEN

Ethan Allen, hero of Vermont and history book character to most of us, is here given flesh and blood realty. Some of his halo is a bit tarnished; he is shown as a swashbuckling, profane, guzzling individualist, with courage, honesty and diplomacy that make him survive as one of the most picturesque and dramatic figures of our War of Independence. He stood for Vermont's rights against New York, against the thirteen colonies. Holbrook throws interesting light on the confused Hampshire grant struggles. Here is history, biography and legend, welded into one. A good job.