Simon & Schuster The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

Well written, researched, entertaining and engaging book. David McCullough delivers again.

Gives us a really good insight into what the lives of the early pioneers was like, with plenty of direct evidence obtained from letters and correspondence of the people who were actually there.

Whilst this is a story which focuses on five prime actors, the breath of what David McCullough describes is staggering. To put some perspective on the narrative, the American War of Independence, also known as the American Revolutionary War, which spanned the period from 19 April 1775, until the Treaty of Paris concluded the war on 3 September 1783, with the defeat of Britain and loss of its thirteen eastern seaboard colonies, together with what was known as the Northwest Territory, which is to say the area west of Pennsylvania, east of the Mississippi River, north of the Ohio River to the border with contemporary British Canada. It was a crushing blow for Britain, which some historians consider to be the end of the first British Empire. The Northwest Territory was a vast, lush wilderness, largely uninhabited land mass of some 260,000 square miles (670,000 square kilometres), home to approximately 45,000 indigenous Indian tribes and around 4,000 traders, the latter a mix of Canadian and British subjects. In the fullness of time this new land mass, almost one-third the total area of America would become the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. However, before all of that could take place, it would be the actions of a Massachusetts minister, Reverend Manasseh Cutler, co-founder of the Ohio Company of Associates who would, with Rufus Putnam, Ephraim Cutler (Manasseh oldest son), Joseph Barker House and Samuel Prescott Hildreth encourage a small group of intrepid pioneers to fulfil the intentions of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 by making the long and perilous journey up the Ohio River to found the first settlement on the river, which they named Marietta. The story David McCullough so skilfully tells is one of adventure, daring, sadness and injustice, certainly from the standpoint of the indigenous Americans. Notwithstanding the moral issues - and they are significant - this is a narrative that adds new understanding of how Americans populated the Northwest Territory, how the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banned slavery within the territory, advanced public school education and perhaps above all else was a difficult but nonetheless great endeavour. This is a book which can engender a feeling of being part of this movement west. This is a highly recommended read.

This is an important book that I let drift and drift. I would read a section, set aside, read another section, and so on. Why is it important; the Northwest Ordinance which outlined the freedoms that all would enjoy in this new area of the United States, including freedom from slavery. Freedom of religion as well as an emphasis on education were what became known as the American Way of Life. It really defined how most settlement in the entire country proceeded. At that time, the Northwest Territory wasn't Washington, Oregon, and so on, but rather, the states immediately to the west of the original colonies. These included Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. The proximity of these states to the original colonies did not allow them to be easily reached, however. It was frontier. This book is the stories of the pioneers who settled the land and set the laws. My only criticism is in the detailed life of settlers who built the settlements, but didn't necessarily define it. By that, I may only mean that I didn't need/want to know the level of detail that is here; that may only be my own interest. McCullough is a thorough history and a good writer. In spite of those caveats, I recommend the book.

Interesting factual account of early settlers to North West America.