Get It Now The Pioneers: The Heroic Story Of The Settlers Who Brought The American Ideal West Penned By David McCullough Conveyed In Digital Copy

into this book with little information, I picked it up based on the merits of David McCulloughs earlier books, From the start, I was immediately struck by its excessive quantity of detail, the multitude of individuals referred to and that the prose did not flow well.
I went to Simon amp Schusters book website, searching for clarity:

“Pulitzer Prizewinning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American storythe settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would come to define our country.
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"As part of the Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the new United States of America, Britain ceded the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory, a wilderness empire northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
A Massachusetts minister named Manasseh Cutler was instrumental in opening this vast territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families for settlement, Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery, Inthe first band of pioneers set out from New England for the Northwest Territory under the leadership of Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam.
They settled in what is now Marietta on the banks of the Ohio River, "

"McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Cutler and Putnam Cutlers son Ephraim and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science.
They and their families created a town in a primeval wilderness, while coping with such frontier realities as floods, fires, wolves and bears, no roads or bridges, no guarantees of any sort, all the while negotiating a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the native people.
Like so many of McCulloughs subjects, they let no obstacle deter or defeat them, "

"Drawn in great part from a rare and allbutunknown collection of diaries and letters by the key figures, The Pioneers is a uniquely American story of people whose ambition and courage led them to remarkable accomplishments.
This is a revelatory and quintessentially American story, written with David McCulloughs signature narrative energy, ”

I have underlined those portions I comment upon,

The five individuals focused upon are
, General Rufus Putnam
. Manasseh Cutlerminister
. Ephraim Cutler Manassehs son Cutler
, Samuel Hildrethdoctor and botanist
, Joe Barkercarpenter, boatbuilder and architect

I state these names in an effort to help prospective readers distinguish between the important and less important figures.
One returns to these five because it is they who have written the letters and diary entries, None become individuals a reader empathizes with, A reader does not come to know them personally,

When listening, it is difficult to know which lines are quotes and which the prose of the author or those of his staff who aid him in the writing of books.
Furthermore, different writing styles are evident they are not seamlessly interwoven into each other,

The author does not analyze the veracity of the statements made, Particularly the claims made by white settlers about the behavior and actions of Native Americans are worth questioning, Opposing points of view are absent,

The high moral integrity of the settlers is stressed, The presentation of an objective and balanced study of the facts does not seem to be the books aim,

John Bedford Lloyds narration of the audiobook I have given three, You can easily hear what he says but it is difficult to distinguish which of the lines are direct quotes, Where he pauses is not always right,





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sitelinkThe Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal WestDavid McCullough's "The Pioneers" is simply wonderful.
Mr. McCullough is among a group of historians you have literally changed American history over the last halfcentury, What I learned in high school and college back in the's and's, is to a large extent irrelevant, so completely has the revision been, and continues to be.


"The Pioneers"is the story of the settling of the Northwest territory Ohio by a group of conscientious, hard working pioneers, . . Many of who were members of the Revolutionary War and families from the New England area of the country, Included in their constitution The Northwest Ordinance were the extraordinary conditions of freedom of religion, free universal education, and the prohibition of slavery, The story is

told through the eyes of five individuals spanning the years fromto, It is enthralling, uplifting, and a testimony to the power and creativity of the American spirit, and in the hands of Mr McCullough it is poetic and beautiful.
Highly recommendThere were parts I enjoyed, but parts that were flitting all over the place, I have been to Marietta, many times, Love it there, so it was interesting to see how it was named, Also the settling of parts of the country I had never read before, Strange to think that when my state, Illinois was admitted into the union in, the total population was only,, Enjoyed the ending parts with John Quincy Adams, that was touching, As a cohesive whole though, I found it lacking, There were so many characters, so many events muddled together, at times reading was for me quite frustrating, Seems as soon as I would become interested in a person or information, he would flit over to something else, So as you can see, a very mixed read for me, The subtitle is “the heroic story of the settlers who brought the American ideal west” sure, if the American ideal is imperialism, environmental destruction, and genocide.
The storytelling is just as good as I expect from a David McCullough history, but it gets one star because of the onesidedness, We learn all about the backstory, families, hopes, and dreams of the “pioneers,” but nothing about the people whose home they are invading, There are tons of quotes from letters and journals of “settlers” about the “havoc” that the “savages” cause, but nothing from the native Americans who are fighting off the invaders.

Nope, thanks this narrative about “heroic” settlers is wayyyyy too prevalent in history books already, Anybody have recommendations for the Native American side of the narrative I'm a fan of David McCullough, and this book confirms my attraction, He's a wellresearched historian and a skillful writer and storyteller, Here, in newly independent United States of America, some farsighted, brave people decided they ought to expand the country west, along the Ohio River, With enthusiasm and determination they do it, But there's more than chopping down trees and planting corn, They brought their 'New England' values with them to the territory that would become Ohio, particularly a prohibition on slavery Suck it, NYTproject, and a strong commitment to education.
The former led to the civil war, as the slaverysouth was increasingly outnumbered and outclassed by the expanding antislavery north and west, and the latter led to modern America, where children are routinely educated in public schools and have access to statefounded colleges.
Every leap forward in technology, from the Wright Brothers to polio vaccines to smart phones, is partly due to the early belief in universal education.
This is the history I wish I'd studied in school what I actually memorized and forgot were a lot of battle dates for the Revolutionary War.
Even if the details of the war were informative, beyond the outcome we fought for independence, we won independence, my school failed to convey anything relevant, such as the difficulty for the Crown, fighting a war across the ocean, the resource draining fight against France, the cost to a debt strapped monarchy, and the extreme difficulty in pacifying colony cities full of hostile civilians while carrying the fight to the countryside.
All of this would have been fun stuff for kids interested in military history, but still useless for our understanding of these United States, What they ought to do in public schools is teach this book and the history surrounding it, This is really a.

I loved this, My home state and it's establishment, I loved following the characters from early settlement up to the Civil War, I enjoyed following the Cutler family, in particular,

I took a half star off because there was one missing major piece, in my opinion, Set in the earlys, the Second Great Awakening and the Circuit Riders would have been very important in the early settlement and I was disappointed that this part of the establishment of Ohio was neglected.


Overall, this was fantastic I plan to read more McCullough for sure, This is my second one ever we listened to The Wright Brothers a number of years ago and I really enjoyed that, too, I plan to add more in the future, David McCullough is back with another of his interesting tomes on American history, this time turning to some of the early settlers, In this piece, McCullough explores those who ventured outside the original thirteen states to explore the newly opened and vast territories of the Midwest, Armed with the passion to explore, these men sought to develop a way of life not seen on these lands before, encountering much in the wilderness, from wellestablished Indian settlements to countless animals who had made the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin their home.
Led by the decorated Revolutionary War General Rufus Putnam, these men did all in their power to expand the land and population control by those in the American Government.
McCullough explores the ideas of a handful of men, through their letters, diaries, and other documents that would shed light on the plight of the settlers and their encounters with things unknown.
As the tome continues, McCullough mixes history with political drama, showing that the exploration included some controversy, particularly among those who did not want to create too democratic a region that was still on shaky legs.
Slavery and limited suffrage became themes, both in the tome and history, that wove their way into the story, all a part of the larger story that created modern crises.
McCullough effectively examines the thoughts and sentiments of these curious men, fuelled by a desire to open the uncharted lands and expound the virtues of American ideals as America sought to leave infancy and enter a more mature and stable way of life.
Wonderful for those who enjoy learning about some of the lesserdocumented pieces of American history and recommended for readers who have long found David McCullough to be easy to comprehend.


I always enjoy finding myself in the middle of a David McCullough piece, particularly because I am sure to learn something and never be resting on my haunches.
McCullough has a way of telling a story that pulls the reader into the middle of the action, surrounding them with key documents and arguments from the time.
While I am sure history books speak generally of the settling of the Northwest Territory, McCullough seeks to fill some of the many gaps with his own research and firsthand documents that enrich the reading experience.
From diary entries about the daily/weekly findings to the letters home that describe things of a more passionate nature, McCullough personalises the lives of these men.
In addition, McCullough puts much of the exploration into historical perspective, while life in the big cities became a political and social battle, Politics was surely all about how to acquire land and settle it, but also to create territorial governments and legislatures to better run things on a local level.
With large chapters full of information, McCullough gives the reader a chance to be part of the action without getting too bogged down in minutiae.
One can only hope that others will take this rubric and run with it in their own depiction of history, while McCullough finds more areas worthy of exploration, sure to entertain those who love his writing.


Kudos, Mr. McCullough, for a fabulous addition to your collection, I am eager to see what you have next and will tell others who much I enjoyed this piece,

Love/hate the review An evergrowing collection of others appears at:
sitelink wordpress. com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: sitelink goodreads. com/group/show/ OK, I nearly tossed my cookies more than once while listening to the very long and very graphic description of the Big Bottom Massacre.
I don't remember learning this in myth grade lessons on the history of Ohio



Other than that, the book was interesting but I remember now why I didn't major in History in college.
It's really hard for me not to compare everything McCullough writes to sitelinkTruman which is an incredible presidential biography, While The Pioneers has a catchy title, it really is about the settlement of Ohio, specifically Marietta, Three interesting men, and by extension their sons who carried on their work: Manasseh Cutler and son Ephraim, Rufus Putnam, and Samuel Hildreth, These folks bravely ventured forth into the wilderness and established a territory without slavery and with free education, Unfortunately, there's a plethora of other bit players, and the many names and minor achievements start to run together in a big blur, There's one whole chapter devoted to Hildreth's vacation through New York and New England which seemed a bit beside the point, It is interesting to note the huge advances in transport between the late's and mid's, and navigation of the Ohio river seemed to contribute significantly to those developments.
But all in all, the book felt more like McCullough came across some great source material which he shaped into a book rather than originating a great book idea and searching for the sources to support it.
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