(2007)Pretty good bio of Daniel Boone written in almost a novelistic style. Didn't finish but did read 250 of the 462 pages. (PW)Many historical figures are more interesting in reality than in myth. Daniel Boone was one of them. Brilliant explorer, trapper and pathfinder, renowned marksman and revolutionary militia officer, he was also a loner, parent, legislator, settler and failed speculator. Poet and fiction writer Morgan (Gap Creek) portrays Boone in lively prose but also in excessive detail. Must we know of Boone's life week by week or of favored Shawnee coital positions? And must he give us references to Emerson, Thoreau and Faulkner? Morgan is a trustworthy, up-to-date authority who needs no support from others. Boone comes fully alive in his pages. Morgan's objectivity gives us a completely realized man, the greatest pioneer of the Trans-Appalachian west, who helped open Kentucky to settlement but kept going, settling eventually in Missouri. His luck was as legendary as his deeds, given what he seems to have escaped. Yet Morgan skillfully assesses and often questions the validity of all the tales of good fortune and heroism attached to Boone. Most appealing today, Boone was deeply respectful of the native tribes, a respect returned by the Indians, many of whom he befriended even when he was in conflict with them. If only others had possessed his wisdom and character.

OMG, how Morgan does go on. This 20-hour audio book could easily have been 15 hours if an editor had managed to restrain Morgan's verbosity. Points raised over and over again, sometimes in anticipation of their place in the timeline, then at their occurrence, are then pointed back to at some later point in the narrative. I particularly had to laugh when Morgan accused some 19th-century biographers of Boone of indulging in purple prose, only to turn to it himself in the very same chapter. Morgan also seems oddly comfortable saying that whether or not some particular story about Boone really occurred does not matter; that it nonetheless reveals such-and-such about Boone's character.
I simply cannot recommend this book, but neither can I point you to some alternative. Wikipedia, perhaps?
[Audiobook note: Especially at first, narrator James Jenner seemed to me to take much-too-long pauses between sentences and paragraphs. Later, he either sped up or I had become accustomed to his rhythm.] ( )

Since, I was a kid, I was always found the mythical Daniel Boone fascinating. As I got older, I realized I really didn’t know much about the man and that much of what I heard about him wasn’t even true. I have had this wonderful biography on shelf for a number of years and I am glad I finally plucked it off shelf.
It is an extensive look at the man and I ended up being more impressed by what this man accomplished. Opening up the frontier to the West, with the discovery of the Cumberland Gap and his love for nature and the wilderness is astounding.
If you are like me, and have always wanted to learn more about this legendary figure, this is the perfect bio to pick up. Morgan writes mainly fiction but he sure showed some fine craftsmanship with this book. Highly recommended. ( )

5753. Boone A Biography, by Robert Morgan (read 5 Aug 2021) This is a carefully researched biography, published in 2008. One gets the idea that many earlier biographies of Daniel Boone are not very reliable. Daniel was born 2 Nov 1734. His exciting life is well-told, including much interaction with Indians. In fact he was captured by Indians and lived with them, rather contentedly, for a time till he escaped. One gets the idea that Boone was primarily contending with the Indians, who were more or less allied with the British and the Indians were dismayed that when the peace treaty was entered into the British gave the territory east of the Mississippi to the United States without clearing the doing so with their Indian allies. Boone was usually in debt, he being a poor record keeper and easy to take advantage of. The book is sometimes exciting but there are many non-exciting pages. There are 8 counties named Boone in the United States but Arkansas says its Boone County was not named for Daniel but to lead folk to think living in the county would be a "boon"--though if that is true why is it spelled with an "e" ? ( )

Hardback, 2007