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Boone: An Unfinished Portrait
A wild biography of Daniel Boone that seeks to define and examine the figurehead of the American Man through a rich inspection of the complex and problematic context of American frontier history.
Acclaimed Biographer and Emergent Conservationist Daniel Firth Griffith provides a wild and engaging portrait of a great American Icon, Daniel Boone. Delivered with the challenging nuance of a historian and the arresting style of a poet, Griffith's work seeks to reignite and engage the soul of American wildness. Boone: An Unfinished Portrait is a search party to find Daniel Boone, its journey is that of his story's canvas, and its purpose is to uncover a man to unfurl a hope built in reciprocity, connection, and understanding.
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"A tantalizing biography for those who love and live for wild places." - Jim Howell, author of For the Love of Land.
"[Griffith's work] surpasses the biography genre's standard of simply being informative and lands squarely in "edifying." The clear passion for classics, nature, and philosophy shines through every page of the book. This book isn't just for Daniel Boone fanatics. It's a much-needed celebration of truth and virtue in a frantic world that could use a good story." - Kip Henderson.
"An arresting, raw, and sensitive account of a remarkable man and an extraordinary life [and] told with the robust accuracy of a researcher and the engaging style of a poet." - Daniela Ibarra-Howell, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of the Savory Institute.
"A superb study that clears away the fog and mythology of Boone as the pathfinder for civilization." - Dr. Dan Monroe, Professor of History at Millikin University and the author of The Republican Vision of John Tyler.
"Griffith dispenses with the trite mythology of Boone's legend to explore the philosophical underpinnings of the man and his tumultuous, transitional era." - Leo Dillon.
"Griffith makes Boone's life and the period alive and vivid widening the aperture on the human condition. An important read and reminder that history isn't defined by one person, one act, one event, but daily interaction with others, our times, our environment over a lifetime." - Tom Maj.
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We know the name, but do we know the man? Was Daniel Boone a woodsman-philosopher or American Patriot? Boone was and is still today a convenient symbol, employed by anyone who thinks they are an American. But what if he wasn't an American? And what if he doesn't want our employment?
In this sensitive and philosophical work, we dive into the rich mythology of American literature, poetry, and history alongside Indigenous mythology and wisdom to find the man of Daniel Boone. From Whitman to Emerson, Muir to Turner, we peel back Daniel's forest - gently of course, for leaves are fragile and we don't want to disturb that beaver to your left as he creates an ecologically-rich wetland - and attempt to see him as he saw himself. Perhaps, in the naivety and purity of this place, we may also learn something about ourselves.
If history is the art of trying to know better, then this book is written for those who are ready for the task-to unveil the woods of our mythology and discover a story that we may not be entirely comfortable with. The lesson of this story is not progress, but pain, not empire, but empathy. This is the story of just a man-a great man but a man nonetheless. Perhaps, that makes it the very best kind of American story.
Acclaimed Biographer and Emergent Conservationist Daniel Firth Griffith provides a wild and engaging portrait of a great American Icon, Daniel Boone. Delivered with the challenging nuance of a historian and the arresting style of a poet, Griffith's work seeks to reignite and engage the soul of American wildness. Boone: An Unfinished Portrait is a search party to find Daniel Boone, its journey is that of his story's canvas, and its purpose is to uncover a man to unfurl a hope built in reciprocity, connection, and understanding.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"A tantalizing biography for those who love and live for wild places." - Jim Howell, author of For the Love of Land.
"[Griffith's work] surpasses the biography genre's standard of simply being informative and lands squarely in "edifying." The clear passion for classics, nature, and philosophy shines through every page of the book. This book isn't just for Daniel Boone fanatics. It's a much-needed celebration of truth and virtue in a frantic world that could use a good story." - Kip Henderson.
"An arresting, raw, and sensitive account of a remarkable man and an extraordinary life [and] told with the robust accuracy of a researcher and the engaging style of a poet." - Daniela Ibarra-Howell, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of the Savory Institute.
"A superb study that clears away the fog and mythology of Boone as the pathfinder for civilization." - Dr. Dan Monroe, Professor of History at Millikin University and the author of The Republican Vision of John Tyler.
"Griffith dispenses with the trite mythology of Boone's legend to explore the philosophical underpinnings of the man and his tumultuous, transitional era." - Leo Dillon.
"Griffith makes Boone's life and the period alive and vivid widening the aperture on the human condition. An important read and reminder that history isn't defined by one person, one act, one event, but daily interaction with others, our times, our environment over a lifetime." - Tom Maj.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We know the name, but do we know the man? Was Daniel Boone a woodsman-philosopher or American Patriot? Boone was and is still today a convenient symbol, employed by anyone who thinks they are an American. But what if he wasn't an American? And what if he doesn't want our employment?
In this sensitive and philosophical work, we dive into the rich mythology of American literature, poetry, and history alongside Indigenous mythology and wisdom to find the man of Daniel Boone. From Whitman to Emerson, Muir to Turner, we peel back Daniel's forest - gently of course, for leaves are fragile and we don't want to disturb that beaver to your left as he creates an ecologically-rich wetland - and attempt to see him as he saw himself. Perhaps, in the naivety and purity of this place, we may also learn something about ourselves.
If history is the art of trying to know better, then this book is written for those who are ready for the task-to unveil the woods of our mythology and discover a story that we may not be entirely comfortable with. The lesson of this story is not progress, but pain, not empire, but empathy. This is the story of just a man-a great man but a man nonetheless. Perhaps, that makes it the very best kind of American story.
232 pages, Paperback
Published October 22, 2020
10 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Firth Griffith
8 books16 followersFirth is participant citizen of Earth Mother: a father, horse-friend, sacred butcher, magikal storyteller, and award-winning indie author of six books on kincentric ecology, mythology, and horror.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 2, 2020
Well it wasn't your typical biography. rather the authors effort to sway history and take away the true American hero that we need today. More of a book review with little effort to do anything but to. cut and paste the writings of others. His favorite word is 'progressive' thus to feed the tastes of the liberal left today. Then we recounts history before and after the lifetime of Boone, with little that has to do with what he actually did.
Another evidence of how the history is being buried into tell us how it ought to have been and what they did wrong. I feel sorry for grandchildren and others who will not learn from the great things that were done to build this country. No Daniel didn't have an iPhone, Google, or twitter. He had what he made and carved a piece of history and that is something you take for granted millennials have today.
Nothing of worth hear for me. I quit at 70% read. 2 stars for effort.... wasted my money on trash!
Another evidence of how the history is being buried into tell us how it ought to have been and what they did wrong. I feel sorry for grandchildren and others who will not learn from the great things that were done to build this country. No Daniel didn't have an iPhone, Google, or twitter. He had what he made and carved a piece of history and that is something you take for granted millennials have today.
Nothing of worth hear for me. I quit at 70% read. 2 stars for effort.... wasted my money on trash!
December 30, 2024
I am a huge fan of this author, and this book was what I was looking for when I started wondering about the history of the Americas before contact. I was not at all familiar with Daniel Boone before reading this book besides what Disney told me as a kid. But the author does a fantastic job of breaking down all of the cultural and geopolitical influences in the area at the time.
I live in western America in a very rural area, and his writing gave me an idea of what the eastern part of the country looked like in the late 1700's. I appreciate how the author included in the story a fair representation of all the characters at the time, from the settlers to the native people.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for the history of our country that they don't teach in school. Thank you to the author for sharing these wonderful words.
I live in western America in a very rural area, and his writing gave me an idea of what the eastern part of the country looked like in the late 1700's. I appreciate how the author included in the story a fair representation of all the characters at the time, from the settlers to the native people.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for the history of our country that they don't teach in school. Thank you to the author for sharing these wonderful words.
October 1, 2020
Boone: an Unfinished Portrait surpasses the biography genre’s standard of simply being informative and lands squarely in “edifying.”Griffith carefully and lovingly works his way through the narrow mountain pass of exhorting and honoring the wanderlust heartiness of the pioneers, while still removing any trace of doubt in the reader’s mind of the tragedy of the conquest and displacement of the highly civilized Native people. Griffith puts aside the American legend that has sprung up around the character of Boone. In its place, he unveils a man whose home was far less American as much as it was alone within the woods. Griffith, in his admirable insistence on following the facts, is as keen to expose the true soul of the reader as he is to understand the man Daniel Boone. In the book’s search for discovering where one man’s soul resided, we’re also gifted with a picture of the contemplative life— one of deep connection with nature, a contentment with solitude, an appetite for adventure, and a respect for all peoples. The book invites the reader to lament— the pain of the Native, the tragedy of the consequences of Boone’s way finding, the loss of Man’s intimacy with nature and with the hunt. This lament is not condemning, oppressive, or hopeless. It is beautiful and tragic, and a tale worth telling and worth carrying forward in time with us.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews