The #1 New York Times bestseller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that’s ”as resonant today as ever” (The Wall Street Journal)–the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country. As part of the Treaty of … country.
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. In 1788 the 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; Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science. “With clarity and incisiveness, [McCullough] details the experience of a brave and broad-minded band of people who crossed raging rivers, chopped down forests, plowed miles of land, suffered incalculable hardships, and braved a lonely frontier to forge a new American ideal” (The Providence Journal).
Drawn in great part from a rare and all-but-unknown 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. “A tale of uplift” (The New York Times Book Review), this is a quintessentially American story, written with David McCullough’s signature narrative energy.
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Time to stretch the mind, I told myself when I decided to buy renowned historian David McCullough’s new release. I’ve not read McCullough before, but figured that if I wanted a work of non-fiction that has nothing to do with today’s politics, reading about American explorers in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s might do it.
It did. I was totally immersed in this incredible read.
THE PIONEERS highlights the men who, both in planning and execution, were key to settling the Northwest Territory – land we now know of as Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. McCullough’s reputation is well-deserved; what a skilled story-teller he is! In the process of describing pioneering life, he focuses on five of the leaders in this movement, details their backgrounds, families, beliefs, struggles, hopes, frustrations, and dreams. All of this is meticulously researched and artfully written.
As is the job of a historian (vs. an opinion writer), the author presents the facts and lets readers draw their own conclusions. For instance, one critic of THE PIONEERS takes McCullough to task for shortchanging the story of Native Americans as they were pushed farther and farther west. But he neither justifies nor condemns. He simply presents.
Same with the issue of slavery. He states (as is fact) that the framers of the Northwest Ordinance that preceded exploration into the Northwest Territories as expressly forbidding slavery, and details the frustration of the original settlers with later ones who wanted this changed. Here, too, McCullough takes neither side, simple documents what occurred in what would prove to be the lead-up to the Civil War.
In a day and age when extreme opinion is rampant, McCullough’s measure presentation is a welcome breath of fresh air.
David McCullough know how to make history fun.
Yet another outstanding work by David McCullough. Well-researched, yet not tedious. The prose reads smoothly. Dr. McCullough provides a fascinating insight into the characters and events that helped shape an important juncture in the westward expansion.
Dr. McCullough strives to provide a balanced view of the interactions between settlers and the native population, but Native American resource materials are rare. Nonetheless, Dr. McCullough does not demonize the native population; he does not gloss over offenses by the settlers; but he highlights the efforts of his primary characters to treat their Native American neighbors with fairness and respect, especially when viewed in the perspective of social mores of the time. (I find the negative comments by some readers to be baffling and ill-informed. To get these takeaways, a reader had to approach this book with a predetermined mindset and a sizable chip on the shoulder.) At no point does Dr. McCullough champion one perspective or race over another. When he chronicles conflicts, he documents atrocities and offenses on both sides.
His research is extensive and his treatment is measured and balanced. The end result is a delightful read that transports the reader into the cabins and parlors of settlers, endeavoring to carve out a community in a harsh wilderness. As commonly happens in Dr. McCullough’s books, you become well acquainted with historical figures who come to feel like friends.
I’ve always enjoyed Dr. McCullough’s books, was eager to read this one, and was not disappointed. I received the book as a gift and devoured it. It still holds a place of prominence on my bookshelf.
I really enjoyed this book. It followed the history and settlement founding of the area where I grew up. Add much insight into local history and understanding of the region. Done with the wonderfully readability and story telling that only David M can deliver,
Brave, plucky settlers pushing westward against all odds… reads like typical American mythology rather than the balanced / believable narrative I’d expected.
It’s hard to know which book of David MacCullogh’s to praise most. All are superb narrative histories. Here’s a superb example.
It was about a time in the history of the country that I hadn’t known too much about. It was very well written as this author’s books usually are.
great book about settlers travelling to Ohio country and hardships they endured.
A
This is an excellent read about the settling of the Ohio river territory and the cities in Ohio. Very detailed information on the people that risked and lost their lives making the Ohio river a great waterway. I learned so much.
McCullough at his best which is the best in his genre.
It was a great historical book. I learned so much about our country and firefathers
Learned so much about the middle of country
not one of better books.
This is a non-fictional book regarding the settling of the Northwest immediately after the Revolutionary War. The first Northwest territory of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc. Very interesting history.
Yet another outstanding work by David McCullough. Well-researched, yet not tedious. The prose reads smoothly. Dr. McCullough provides a fascinating insight into the characters and events that helped shape an important juncture in the westward expansion.
Dr. McCullough strives to provide a balanced view of the interactions between settlers and the native population, but Native American resource materials are rare. Nonetheless, Dr. McCullough does not demonize the native population; he does not gloss over offenses by the settlers; but he highlights the efforts of his primary characters to treat their Native American neighbors with fairness and respect, especially when viewed in the perspective of social mores of the time. (I find the negative comments by some readers to be baffling and ill-informed. To get these takeaways, a reader had to approach this book with a predetermined mindset and a sizable chip on the shoulder.) At no point does Dr. McCullough champion one perspective or race over another. When he chronicles conflicts, he documents atrocities and offenses on both sides.
His research is extensive and his treatment is measured and balanced. The end result is a delightful read that transports the reader into the cabins and parlors of settlers, endeavoring to carve out a community in a harsh wilderness. As commonly happens in Dr. McCullough’s books, you become well acquainted with historical figures who come to feel like friends.
I’ve always enjoyed Dr. McCullough’s books, was eager to read this one, and was not disappointed. I received the book as a gift and devoured it. It still holds a place of prominence on my bookshelf.
Enjoyed it
I am a huge fan of David McCullough histories, and this title did not disappoint. His reliance on archival material, newspapers, letters, records to tell a story ensures a non-revisionist history. The subject, the results of enacting the Northwest Ordinance, is interesting, difficult at times, messy at other times, and full of amazing accomplishments. Set from 1787 to 1865 but with very little focus on the mid 1860s and Civil War, the people who settled the U.S.’s first organized territory west of the Appalachians were unique individuals. I found the clearing of gorgeous, virgin forests and the Indian wars and Indian removal the most heartbreaking reading, while the character of the people who settled the territory were the most interesting.
Many well-known people are discussed: Aaron Burr, Lewis and Clark, Johnny Appleseed, and some English visitors who really did not like Americans too much, e.g., Charles Dickens. The Blennerhasetts story was really unique, and sad. Manasseh Cutler and his offspring and Rufus Putnam and his offspring are detailed as the development of the territory grew. The building of forts, battles with Indians and their eventual removal from their homelands, the development of schools, education, and Ohio University, freedom of religion, and anti-slavery are topics of importance in the telling of how the Northwest Territory developed. History is messy, because people of the present expect people of the past to abide by present-day norms. That will never happen and revising history to fit an agenda is fiction. Thankfully McCullough’s presentation of how the Northwest Territory history unfolded does not fit a revisionist agenda and is a solid, historical narrative of the burgeoning expansion of the United States. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it was difficult reading about the deforestation of what must have been one of the most beautiful forests on earth. I also kept having to check my mental geography, because “…Virginia was just across the river.”
I got this from my local library, and although the author may be a national treasure, I just wanted this reading experience to be over. Painstakingly researched aside, except for a few parts, I just didn’t find it to be that interesting. Most of what I read is non fiction, but a lot of this work felt more scholarly than I like. To each their own, but I was disappointed.
Recommended for the insight into a little known part of American history, well told.
Excellent!!!