Daniel Boone: The Opening of the Wilderness

U.S. Landmark Books #21

by John Mason Brown

Daniel Boone opened up the American west; more than 200,000 settlers poured into Kentucky on the Wilderness Road he helped establish. John Mason Brown's classic biography brilliantly depicts Boone's life and times, delving into all the complexities of this fascinating man as well as the landmark historical events he lived through--including the Revolutionary War and Louisiana Purchase.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, Reference, Childrens

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

1837-1890

Reviews

[Luisa Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Each is a book that brings to life a great event or personality in our nation's past. Each is designed to be rich, rewarding reading, capable of stirring the heart as well as the mind. Each is intended to arouse in the reader not only an interest in the course of history, but also an understanding of how the democracy that is our heritage was forged."
-From one of the dust jackets

The Landmark Books for children are a great way to learn history! I can't say enough about these books and it's no wonder that they are highly sought after in the homeschool community. So if you see one, buy it!

Ages: 10+
Pages: approx. 175-200
Illustrations: some

Cleanliness: Several tortures scenes by Indians are explained: 1. "his hips pierced by a bullet, his body covered with gashes, his fingernails ripped out, and his hands slashed from fighting off knives, was heard to scream, begging his tormentors to kill him quickly." 2. "in one instance permitting a squaw to cut off a soldier's head and kick it around as if it were a football." Mentions men being naked: "Next the candidate would be undressed and led, usually by squaws, to a river or stream where he would be washed and rubbed." "Godly" is used twice as an exclamation. "Bl**dy" is used a few times to describe lots of blood.

**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!

So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! You’ll see my updates as I’m reading and know which books I’m liking and what I’m not finishing and why. You’ll also be able to utilize my library for looking up titles to see whether the book you’re thinking about reading next has any objectionable content or not. From swear words, to romance, to bad attitudes (in children’s books), I cover it all!

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and informative
Middle school

[Donna Kremer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book, published in 1952, captivate the style of the era. The writing is more like a long encyclopedic entry instead of a story but I wanted to learn about Daniel Boone so I got what I came for. I did like that the truth of man’s treatment toward the Indians was portrayed without fear of “offending” anyone and the verbiage of the time was not softened. You won’t read this story in today’s classroom.

[Joel Everett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this would never be found at a public school's library today; I still found it - even accounting for verbiage that would make one wince - highly informative and relatively fair in portraying both the good and bad of the various historical figures involved. I also appreciated the little details and stories that so often get left behind when attempting to tell a broader amount of history.

[Caleb Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best biography that could be written for youngsters on his life. He is undoubtedly a hero, two of his sons were brutally killed by the Indians. America in those early days is an odd mix of life in Eden, and life in Noah's day. Indians and settlers did whatever seemed right to them, while on the other hand, the freedom, opportunity, and possibilities with crops and development seemed endless.

The quote at the end of the book seems to prove he was born again.

[Rodney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the Landmark books that I read in elementary school. I just reread it as my new goal of collecting/reading the complete series. I enjoyed this history of Daniel Boone. This book covers his service with Braddock’s army at the defeat and his many adventures in exploring and settling Kentucky. It also covers the disappointing portions of his life such as his court martial and land problems

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about Boone from reading this to the kids. It's awfully wordy for a kid's book and there are a few scenes that are gory and would be disturbing to a young child. (These primarily are specific descriptions of some specific incidents of whites doing horrible things to the Native Americans and vice versa.) But you can gloss over those pretty easily without the listener getting lost.

[Lanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere between 4-5 stars. Now I understand why CM people are obsessed with Landmark books. I'll take another dozen of these sorts of books.
If you are politically correct, be forewarned that the author refers to native americans as "red men." However, the author seems very respectful in his attitude towards different people so I do not think it was meant as a racial slur.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was informative. However, it was a bit long and dry.

[LaWindes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very complimentary of Daniel Boone. Somewhat abbreviated from other longer biographies.

[Yaaresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a bunch of the Landmark series books as a kid. Our school library had a huge collection of them, so I just made my way down the shelves. I remember enjoying them, but I was too young at the time to question the narrative slant. I just liked reading biographies and histories, and there wasn't a lot of interesting non-fiction for kids at that time. Most of what did exist was either boring or more myth than fact. These books did not talk down to the reader, which I appreciated.

Each Landmark Book was written by a different author, each highly respected and invited to contribute to the series. There is a wonderful article on the Landmark Books series on the American Historical Association website: https://www.historians.org/publicatio...

I'm rating them on the memory of enjoyment alone, not on accuracy or how they would go over today. Fortunately, kids today have a lot better from which to choose.

[Jason Carlson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I knew this was going to be bad, and it was.

[Debbie Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I had no idea the hardships that Daniel Boone and his family went through. Most of the troubles were because he did not take to his school lessons when he was young, but spent all his time out of doors. He grew up in Pennsylvania, but his family moved to North Carolina when Daniel was 18 years old. Later Daniel married and when Indian trouble came to the area moved his wife and children to Virginia. It got to crowded there and Daniel moved his family again to Kentucky and helped settle that new territory. "Daniel was a man made to live close to nature rather than to men." "...land as something controlled by law: land as private property instead of a wilderness; land to be bought and sold and fenced in; land, in short, as what he described as a "Bissness," he did not understand." "He was simple enough to believe that the mere act of getting somewhere first, and fighting for what one had explored or settled, was enough to establish ownership." pg. 151 "Bit by bit, because his claims had been carelessly made, his land was taken from him." pg. 152 He moved his family again, to Missouri, which I did not know about at all, and had more land trouble there. I love the closing chapter and the love and fear of God and belief in Jesus Christ that he expressed in a letter when he was in his 80's. It was a wonderful book.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Landmark series of historical fiction for young children. This is no exception. Tells of Daniel Boone and his opening of the "Wilderness Road" into Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap of the Appalachians in 1775, a time when the American Colonists were forbidden by British law from crossing the Appalachians into Indian territory.

[Jessica Cox]

I read this with my 10, 8 and 4 year old children. It took them a little to get into it but once we did we loved it a great historical read aloud. They were all caught by how often Daniel almost made it, and were cheering him on hoping that he would get a break.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my top favorite books growing up.