Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier

In this year’s Siblings’ Book Club, Blood and Treasure tied Misreading Scripture through Western Eyes (2012) as our #2 selection—both books losing to The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne (1922). I look forward to reading all the other books on our list but wanted to get this thick book out of the way first.

My Approach to the Book

Although I love history in general, I’ve never really been a fan the Revolutionary War era. I honestly can’t tell you why, but the pregnancy and birth of our nation always seems like a bore-fest to me. Perhaps I can blame high school history for that.

I do love the explorers, of course, so characters like Daniel Boone and the Lewis and Clarke Expedition do carry quite an appeal for me, but the 18th Century is otherwise one that’s always failed to excite me.

I’ve also never really been interested in the cowboys-and-Indians skirmishes—despite one embarrassing home video from my childhood that might suggest otherwise. I knew that this book would involve a great deal of similar settler-and-Indian skirmishes (or worse), so I hoped it wouldn’t be a turn-off for me.

A Long Biographical Setup

I’ll have to admit that throughout the first half or so of Blood and Treasure, I felt it was a pretty dry read. It definitely got better the more I read, but it wasn’t a book that sucked me right in. Partly, this was because the authors needed to set the proper stage for all that ensued in the life of Daniel Boone. They needed the historical setting of early- and mid-18th century, including the divisions of territories and the many personalities among the French, Indian, British, and colonial groups. There was a lot to lay down, and through it all, the authors also had to include the Boones and the upbringing that provided Daniel the urge to do the things he eventually did.

This is all important for setting the stage, but its result felt like a sloggy beginning. It reminds me of my hands-down favorite “autobiography” by Roald Dahl in his two-book series Boy: Tales of Childhood and Going Solo. I don’t just say that because I love Roald Dahl, but because in these books, he hit on this point purposefully. In fact, in Boy, he writes:

A life is made up of a great number of small incidents and a small number of great ones. An autobiography must therefore, unless it is to become tedious, be extremely selective, discarding all the inconsequential incidence in one’s life and concentrating upon those that have remained vivid in the memory. (Introduction)

Granted, one’s more apt to pull this off in his autobiography than when writing the biography of someone else, but I think the same ideals apply. Whittling away “the inconsequential” is difficult, especially when researchers worth their salt uncover a multitude of interesting facts and anecdotes that never make it into the final draft of the book. I’m sure that Drury and Clavin’s notebooks on the subject of Daniel Boone could have resulted in a 2,000-page book, sans editing. I’m also sure that the 355 pages they did publish are the hard-fought results of countless drafts and rewrites. I’m sure they’d argue that they’ve whittled this thing down to only its bare essentials, minus every tedious detail. I felt otherwise.

Somehow authors like David McCullough and Edmund Morris make “the inconsequential” and tedious feel utterly fascinating, so I do think that certain writers simply have a flare for it. Drury and Clavin don’t quite have that special edge…yet…but I’m sure they’ll get there.

An Epic Life

This book picked up the pace considerably in “Part 3: The Settlers” and in the chapters beyond. Likely it’s because Daniel Boone’s family takes on a more active role in this second half of the book. Boone had already experienced a number of run-ins with Indian warriors and tribes as a single man exploring the wilderness, but here the interactions get more personal. He’s a husband, a father, a leader. His responsibility has grown, and so too have his challenges.

Take for example the kidnapping of Daniel’s daughter, Jemima, and Daniel’s own “enslavement” after capture—two epic episodes from America’s early history that are novels in and of themselves. They’re the basis of myth and legend, and yet they’re true accounts having happened just as these historians relate. Unbelievable. Fascinating. Worth the read.

Conclusion

This book had its moments of excitement and edge-of-your-seat action, but they were fewer than I had hoped in what’s touted as a book for the popular audience. It’s a great recounting of the Daniel Boone’s life, yet I can’t view it as all that much different than a book for Boy Scouts I read a number of years ago, Daniel Boone: Wilderness Scout by Stewart Edward White (1921). It’s an updated recounting to be sure, but one that delivered his story with an equal measure of excitement.

Like with any review on this site, of course, it’s just my opinion. You might as well read the thing for yourself and come to your own conclusions! If you’ve never before read anything on Daniel Boone and want to, then Blood and Treasure is definitely a great place to start. Danile Boone’s a man worth remembering, and Drury and Clavin’s book helps us do just that.

©2024 E.T.

Read More on Wilderness Exploration:

• The Scalp Hunters by Captain Thomas Mayne Reid (1860)
• Away in the Wilderness by R.M. Ballantyne (1863)
• Love of Life and Other Stories by Jack London (1907)
• Daniel Boone: Wilderness Scout by Stewart Edward White (1921)
• Journal of a Trapper by Osborne Russell (1921)
• Trails Plowed Under by Charles M. Russell (1927)
• The Man in the Wilderness by Jack DeWitt (1971)
• Centennial by James Michener (1974)
• Blood and Treasure by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (2021)