Algonquin Books
Boone; a biography.
He led whites into the wilds of Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky, but he preferred to live as a Native American and as a woodsman. He is known for the gentle pursuits of naturalists but also fought in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution and served in the contentious Virginia legislature. He was a successful landowner and his ten surviving children gave him 68 grandchildren. Lastly, he was an American icon but died penniless. Poet and novelist Morgan (English, Cornell U.) cuts through the myths and firmly places Daniel Boone within his proper personal and historical contexts, ably explaining the apparent contradictions. Morgan also gives fascinating insights into Boone's inadvertent influence on the development of Romanticism, his perceptions of western expansion and his role in it, and his involvement in Freemasonry and its influences on his perceptions of his mission and identity. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
