This is the shortest of Allan W. Eckert's fantastic Winning of America series. Like all Eckert's historical novels, it is a wonderful attempt to bring history alive.

Wilderness War picks up about 13 years after the end of Pontiac's War as chronicled in Eckert's "The Conquerors". It tells the tale of Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant, the white-educated Iroquois leader who would go on to lead his people against the Americans during the Revolutionary War on the New York and Pennsylvania frontier. It begins with the breakup of the great Six Nations as they are torn in opposing directions at the outbreak of the Revolution as both sides fight to win the loyalty of the Eastern tribes. Brant joins with the British invasion force under Barry St. Leger as he lays siege to the American held Fort Stanwix in his drive down the Mohawk Valley toward Albany, where he plans to link up with a large Britsh force under General John Burgoyne in an attempt to spilt the rebellious colonies and drive them into submission. Brant's Mohawks, supported by loyalist troops, smash into an American relief column under General Nicholas Herkimer at Oriskany. This bloody confrontation sets the stage for what proves to be a long line of frontier battles, raids, murders, and atrocities commited by both sides in a bitter conflict to control the frontier, culminating with the American's long march through Iroquois lands, devastating villages, food stores, and breaking the will of the Indians forever. The aftermath of this onslaught eventually brought independence for the new United States, but starvation and death to the once-great Six Nations who would never rise again.

Wilderness War tackles an engaging story in a fascinating time period and Eckert, as usual, does a wonderful job. He paints a broad portrait of life and warfare on the New York Frontier and tells the story not only of Brant and the fate of the eastern tribes, but of the trials, hardships, and ultimate triumph of the settlers who pushed into the unknown to hack a new life out of the wilderness.

I've now read 4 of Eckert's books and one is better then the next. He takes a period of our American History and makes it come to life. Even though these books are not historical fiction, he weaves events and people into a seemless story. Bravo again !

Great themes, depth, insight, rhythmic, beautiful and precise language, characters that come alive, images that haunt long after the book is closed.

Stephens's poems exhibit again and again that most difficult accomplishment of poetry-- making the marriage of complex language and portentous themes seem effortless. Like Frost, Stephens casts many of his blank verse poems into the voices of characters, men and women, who reflect on their situations or interact within the narrative. The language, especially the dialogue, is simple and eloquent, and always moving. The poems tell stories of relationships, lonely lives, and, most effectively, of work. The third section's sequence of poems depicting a group of railroad signalmen stands alone as a stunning accomplishment. Stephens's characters are often blue-collar, uneducated, and sometimes brutal, but he lets them speak honestly and powerfully. The Determined Days is an often dark but always affecting book, written in a voice that is uniquely American and tremendously talented.