THE REAL BOOK ABOUT DANIEL BOONE

A biography based on documentary research and on many legends, is simple, unprepossessing as Boone himself and written with a quiet vigour that reflects the strength of the pioneers. In the narrative that takes Daniel from his days as a Berks County blacksmith's son in 1744 to his th as a still strong man of eighty six, Cunningham's imagination makes the leader-unter (who incidentally never wore a coonskin cap) a colorfully influential element in the pattern of revolutionary events on the frontier of a new country. As he traps bears, listens to the wind, ventures into Kentucky, builds a cabin for his family, tricks and is captured by Shawnees, founds settlements and staves off both Indians and British, the rdy, soft-spoken Boone comes alive. Opportunity has been taken to make his life a chicle for some solid facts about nature and the Indians as well as a window to political and exploratory factors in colonization.