Boone: A Biography | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Morgan
Publisher: A Shannon Ravenel Book
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 16788
Format: Illustrated
Media: Hardcover
Edition: illustrated edition
Pages: 538
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.4 x 1.8
ISBN: 1565124553
Dewey Decimal Number: 976.902092
EAN: 9781565124554
ASIN: 1565124553
Publication Date: September 21, 2007
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Condition: 2007 Algonquin Books Of Chapel Hill Books hardcover. Missing dust jacket. Back cover board lightly bowed. Lot of light scuffing on cover. 1 creased page corner. Great Otherwise !Binding tight and square.Interior clean and unmarked.
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Product Description
This commanding biography from iNew York Times/i bestselling author Robert Morgan transforms a mythic American hero#8212;a legend in his own time#8212;into a flesh-and-blood man.Morgan's sweeping biography of Daniel Boone is the story of America#8212;its ideals, its promise, its romance, and its destiny. It is the most comprehensive book ever written about the man who was the largest spirit of his time. Hunter, explorer, settler, he was a trailblazer and a revolutionary#8212;an American icon for more than two hundred years.br brBorn in 1734, Boone participated in the colonization of North America, the settling of the Middle Plain, the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, the election of his friend as the first president of the United States, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Westward Expansion. Unlike others of his time, he had a reverence for the Indians, who taught him how to hunt, navigate, and survive in the impenetrable wilderness. He accomplished feat after impossible feat yet was also accused of treason, fraud, hypocrisy; was court-martialed; and was sued for debt again and again. By the end of his life, most of his land claims had been lost to lawyers, politicians, and better businessmen than he.brbrExtensive endnotes, fascinating cultural and historical background material, maps, illustrations, and an index underscore the scope of this distinguished and immensely entertaining work by a writer who, like novelist-turned- historian Shelby Foote, has the talent and the knowledge to make this legendary American come vividly to life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Are We Serious?!! October 17, 2008
C. B. Jrr (Durango, CO USA)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I cannot tell a lie...I read but the first couple of chapters of this book. So this "review" is actually more of a warning. It's difficult to fathom where all the positive opinions of this book come from. I had to stop reading, as I do when a book/author loses all credibility. br / br /From what I could see in reading Morgan's description of the early years of Daniel Boone, the author's "bricks" of fact were held together by "mortar" of fluff and hyperbole. It is useful to understand that much of Morgan's prior literary contribution is fiction and poetry. It seems that he used his inventive mind to create the version of Boone that suited his idea of the man, rather than as perhaps he really was. And he seems so caught up in creating Boone in his image, that he becomes blind to the repetition spewing out of his pen. There was one section about Boone's growing affinity for spending time in the backwoods where the author repeated himself three times before it was time to turn the next page! br / br /Also coming to mind when reading Morgan's "setup" of the book...how we're going to read about the "real" person...there seems to be a trend with historical biographies, both in print and on channels like The History Channel, to "debunk" the myths surrounding such larger-than-life figures as Daniel Boone. HELLO!! Maybe our society NEEDS mythical figures and heroes to drive our emotions. That's another reason I stopped reading this book. I don't want Disney's version either. But perhaps I'll check out one of the previous Boone biographies that Morgan oddly promotes in his book.
 Will not recommend October 6, 2008
Linda Joyce (Evans,GA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was looking forward to this book. But after a few chapters I realized the author was writing this with a 2007 view of the world without truly understanding the frontier. I was disappointed when the author had to give a sexual meaning to events such as picnics,s ex in small crowded, homes and Boone's long ventures into the forest as a metaphor to deflowering a woman. This book tries to make Boone human but I just take it as an effort to bring down the man and his legend. Cannot recommend this book without suggesting you read others to get a well rounded view of Boone.
 Frontier Life June 24, 2008
Nash Black (Jamestown, KY)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
An over long development of the life of a very significant figure in American (Kentucky) history. Speculation as to Boone's thoughts and feelings while traveling the wilderness alone are pure nonsense. Division of labor, Boone was the hunter, hence the other members of the community depended upon his skills for meat. It doesn't take but a few months for wildlife to flee from an area when humans invade their territory. br /One of the funniest bits for me was when Morgan discussed the pollution of the Ohio river. In the 1750s? Bambi should not have pissed in the river. br /Extract historical fact from a modern tendency to humanize personages in terms of current concepts and this could be a valuable book. For Boone and his contemporaries the essence of their lives was survival. br /Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelGuns Across the Rio: A Texas Ranger in Old MexicoNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil WarUnder the Liberty Oak
 An Icon Become Human June 1, 2008
Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL))
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
What strikes me as the greatest accomplishment of Robert Morgan in this biography of Daniel Boone is stripping away the myth and describing the person. I read a recent biography of Kit Carson that did the same thing. As such, both authors have done readers a great service. br / br /Boone himself was a complex figure. He was a great success as a trapper and explorer. He routinely failed as a businessman and land speculator. He was lucky and he made his own luck. Despite being so well known to Americans, he died in Missouri at 86 and pretty much broke. His story was such that he was mentioned in the works of poets and writers. James Fennimore Cooper based a number of novels on his life and exploits, Natty Bumppo, "la longue carabine," the Pathfinder, Hawkeye [in Last of the Mohicans], and so on. br / br /The book does a nice job of relating his family background, his childhood, and his increasing interest in trapping, hunting, and exploring. He fought in the French and Indian War (serving with Braddock on this ill-starred campaign) and the Revolutionary War. He was instrumental in helping the process of development of American interests in Kentucky. His relationship with Native Americans was complex. He respected them and developed some friendships and was even adopted after his capture at one point. But he also fought against them. br / br /His business efforts, designed to provide security for his family, routinely ended in failure. Land that he thought had been given him in Kentucky was lost through court action; he once lost $20,000 as he was going back to Virginia to deposit this and finalize land claims; and so on. br / br /And, a stunning realization. . . . He went with a group of explorers and visited the Yellowstone area while he was in his mid 70s! How many 70 year olds would be able to cross half a continent in 1809 and return? br / br /This book is a wonderfully balanced view of the life of Boone. For those who want to know the man more than the myth, this is most rewarding. Some nice features: a genealogy at the outset, a brief chronology of Boone's life. More maps would have been useful, to place his travels and life in a broader geographic perspective. Nonetheless, a fine work. br /
Engrossing and excellent portrait of a great man May 19, 2008
Nelson Erikson (Montana)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Morgan has writen an excellent book on Daniel Boone. The myth is thrown out the door and the facts are presented in a prose that is both enlightening and poetic. Boone influenced many writers and poets including Walt Whitman and HDT. Boone is the original woodsman. He lived in a time when America truly was wild. It is amazing that he lived to be 86, when one false step caused one to loose their hair. He was held in great respect by the Shawnees and held many of their beliefs in regards to nature. I would have loved to have ridden with him and Simon Kenton.
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