History textbooks are usually inadequate and painfully boring. This book is exceptionally well-written, accurate and interesting. It's great!

I am a secondary education history major and I use this book in my US history class. I find it to be simply outstanding. It reads like a novel and not like a text book. This is a must have for any history buff.

On its own terms, this book is a huge success.

It synthesizes the past 30 years of serious historical research which revolutionized the presentation of the history of the American West by rescuing the experiences of groups who had been relatively ignored by standard interpretations. Indians, women, blacks, Latinos, Asians, workers are dealt with at length and with sympathy.

The research of anti-capitalist/neo-Marxist, anti-imperialist and pro-environmental historians is summarized and we can see the importance of the challenges they raise to old style historians.

The range of topics is impressive, and the writing is lively and intelligent. (I'd say this is suitable for the college junior/senior level.) The bibliography is amazingly up to date.

The reason why I don't give it a 5 is its lack of balance. At times the authors editorialize crudely--with dismissive judgements ("nonsense") and exclamation points galore to show us when we should boo or hiss.

Less empowered (victim) groups are too often treated as noble, and the majority as vile. This is the Achilles heel of a generation of historians who went into this field with strong orientations and sympathies.

But even more than the distaste for the majority groups, the biggest drawback is the relative lack of attention paid to them. I'm not saying, in an old fashioned way, that they should extol the "achievement" or mindlessly glorify the "Anglos" or capitalists. There is too much solid evidence here that the achievements were not 100% beneficial and that the white males could act and think in apalling ways. But they were the majority actors and this book can too often lose sight of that. At times it feels like the center is missing.

Still, it's an impressive, thought-provoking book. (The section on attempts by cowboys to unionize should be treasured by anybody who was ever spoon fed the Turner thesis.) But it probably should be the second book to give a neophyte, not the first.

This new interpretive history of the American west is recommended reading for college-level students of American history. Drawings, posters, photos and illustrations pepper what remains a panoramic view of history and characters which succeeds in documenting some of the major trends and personalities of the West. Highly recommended.

I have to disagree with the other reviewers. Overall, this book was dull. While the subject is anything but dull, Faragher managed to lose my interest several times. Daniel Boone lived a fascinating life and was a legend but I struggled to finish the book. I probably should pick another author to read about Daniel Boone.

Although a member of the Revolutionary generation, Daniel Boone was at most an indirect participant in that historical event. Instead, Boone gets his fame from his contributions to the founding of Kentucky.

Faragher shows that Boone's contributions were less extensive than the myth of Boone would indicate. Nonetheless, Boone did provide important leadership during the early days of Kentucky's colonizations. Although a sympathetic biography of Boone, Faragher treats with great respect the Indians who Boone had numerous conflicts with.

Boone himself is portrayed as even-tempered and intelligent (though not well-educated), a man elevated to a legendary status by a contemporary biographer who was interested in Kentucky land speculation. Faragher's biography, sometimes exciting and sometimes slow, does a good job at separating myth from fact.

Since most biographies of figures of this era focus on people who were in the more developed areas of the colonies/states such as Philadelphia, Boston and New York, this biography is good at showing what life was like on the 18th century frontier. ...

Although a member of the Revolutionary generation, Daniel Boone was not really a figure in the Revolution. Spending most of his life in the frontier, the war had only an indirect effect on him. Boone's contributions to history were to lie elsewhere.

Faragher writes a good - sometimes exciting, sometimes slow - chronicle of a life that is almost as much myth as fact. Boone is depicted as a generally even-tempered and intelligent (though not well-educated) man who acted as a leader in the colonization of Kentucky. His true significance is more based on myth, however, as he became the subject of a contemporary biography aimed at encouraging people to move to Kentucky.

In this fashion, Boone becomes a semi-legendary figure, alongside other Americans such as Davy Crockett and Kit Carson, for whom the fiction is more important than the fact. Faragher does show that the real Boone was a relatively admirable person, though not without his faults.

One final thing I enjoyed about this biography is that Faragher includes a final chapter that acts as an epilogue and shows Boone's impact after his death. I like these sorts of epilogues and find them too rare in biographies. For a different look at U.S. history, this book is a good way to go.

I felt that the book was really hard. And it was a little long. But overall the book was very intersing and was different then what I thought it was going to be. I think it is a must buy.

I really enjoy Midwestern History, and I like to read as much as I can about the topic. Sugar Creek in my opinion, was rather difficult to believe - I'm not sure what it was, but as I read through it, I found myself questioning the credibility.

John Faragher brings the fascinating story about the rural American community to life with the story of "Sugar Creek." Personally, I enjoyed reading the book on rural history, but sometimes I had to simply skip a couples pages (once and a while) that covered on the Genealogy of the settlers. The book takes place in Sangamon County, IL and is a great book on local history. Faragher tries to stay true to this introduction and writes an elegant masterpiece on local history with the little resources he can find. A changeling book to write and a nice change from reading history of urban America. It is nicely organized with chapters and I felt very comfortable reading it (with a large size font and easy to high-lighted).

John Mack Faragher has brought the central Illinois frontier prairie to life in his "Sugar Creek". In the style of Michener, he begins by offering an early picture of the landscape and its earliest inhabitants. His grasp on historical happenings will stay with me forever especially with regard to how these earliest European settlers of Sangamon County, IL, moved right into the Native American's maple sugar manufacturing operation, soon after they had been killed or moved out. So much for our preconceived ideas of "Virgin Land and Untouched Prairies".

I've lived near that area all my life and can claim some of these old timers who settled the Sugar Creek area as my ancestors. So through his excellent writing I can now appreciate a little more what life was like long ago for those who came before. It is with gratitude that I thank Mr. Faragher for this well written work and am recommending it to anyone I come across with ties to the area or just an interest in frontier life in general. Julie Clark Close

Good for those who know next to nothing about American history. For those who associate "American Heritage" with quality publications, a big d-i-s-a-p-p-o-i-n-t-m-e-n-t. I waited a long time to see this reviewed - and nothing. Try finding something about Hellen Keller in this volume. (Well, maybe someone ripped out my Hellen Keller page, but I wonder.) If you are a teacher with a wad of someone else's money to spend, this won't be a waste. The broad brushstrokes are fine for those with little or no fundamental knowledge of what makes America tick and how it got to be what it is. But calling this an encyclopedia is a bit ambitious and misleading. The Reader's Companion to American History is much better.