This is a thoroughly researched book on the life of Daniel Boone. There is so much about his life as a hunter, frontiersman, and more. Dealing with the indigenous tribes, the British and the upcoming war and the formation of our country. We learn about his life and the deaths of some of his children, the loss of property and the struggles. I was always fascinated by Daniel Boone (visited his gravesite once) and really enjoyed this book of his life. I learned so much.

The middle of the 1700s was full of uncertainty for the thirteen colonies that Great Britain has founded so far. There are so many different battles going on it’s no wonder everyone was a little anxious.

Everyone wants to find a new frontier. And they are all willing to die for it. The Natives, the French, the Spanish, and of course our mother country. The conflicts were gruesome and cruel. Everyone was lying. Someone’s word meant nothing. The Natives were rightly upset and everyone wanted a piece of the country.

And here is where we meet Daniel Boone. Well, actually my husband is a direct descendant of his sister, Elizabeth, so we thought we knew pretty much everything. We did not.

The name Daniel Boone brings me immediately to the song. First off, he wasn’t a big man. He wasn’t at all like the movie and cartoon versions. He was a man with a passion for finding out what lay beyond the Appalachians. He wasn’t a fighting man, but he did his part for the revolution. It’s always dangerous to turn people from the past into larger than life characters and that has been done with Boone.

It was a fast read and based on a lot of research. How did Boone become such a legend? He was seldom home, working as a trapper with a friend or his brother. They would be gone for long periods of time. He saw his fair share of suffering in his own household and they always seemed to be on the edge of financial ruin and yet Daniel did what he had to do to care for his family.

Here you can read his story as told by many different people. The history of America is in this book and I am better for having read it.

NetGalley/ April 20th, 2021 by St. Martin’s Press

A very thorough account of Daniel Boone, his extended family and the push to extend American settlement beyond the East coast and across the Applachians, all while pushing the Natives further West and into near extinction

The book was well researched and developed the bigger picture of what was going on in the early western settlements not focusing just on the central character of Daniel Boone. At times he is almost lost in the story. That made not quite what I was expecting but an enjoyable read nonetheless,