As a study of America's western expansion, as a sketch of a sturdy and heroic personality, as a record of exciting adventure, Henry Addington Bruce's 1910 book "Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road" book should prove a worthy bestseller for young and old alike.
His account of Transylvania is well worth reading and his chapters on the great Kentuckian's services in the Revolution, his campaigning with George Rogers Clark, his pioneering further west, and his later years complete a coherent and well sustained narrative.
In describing Boone's reputation among the frontiersmen, the author writes:
"Boone's preeminence in the defence of Kentucky was by this time universally recognized. His readiness to encounter danger, his resourcefulness in surmounting the greatest obstacles,-he even learned the art of making gunpowder,-and his constant cheerfulness endeared him to all and made him the inspiration of all. In the words of one well acquainted with his career, he was looked upon as an oracle, whose every utterance was to be obeyed... "
In the chapter covering the Wilderness Road, Mr. Bruce writes:
"When Daniel Boone undertook to open up a road between the border settlements and the interior of Kentucky, it was impossible for him to foresee the important place this rugged highway was to hold in the history of the territorial expansion of the American people, and the fame that would consequently accrue to him as its builder. He could have had no idea that within a few years it would be sought out and followed by a continuous stream of humanity, of thousands of men and women."
Although the central figure in this book is, of course, Daniel Boone, the romance of the famous pioneer's life has been identified by Mr. Bruce with the whole vast movement of which he was the type. The scope of this volume is, therefore, far wider than the life of one man. The story of the great migration across the Alleghenies and of the social and economic conditions involved has not hitherto been adequately told ; and Mr. Bruce's narrative is one of the best in conveying the stirring interest that attaches to this almost involuntary movement of the growing people.
