Daniel Boone, Backwoodsman, C. H. Forbes-Lindsay

   I really enjoyed a lot of the old fashioned cowboy-style/frontiersmen type movies that were very popular about 50+ years ago. I have probably watched hundreds of them. Now, normally when I read a book and then watch a film, I can often lament that there are certain aspects of the book which are inevitably left out of the films. That is true for Daniel Boone, Backwoodsman as well. The difference is that I appreciate being left out of the loop. You can pick up the book for free, courtesy of that great repository of public domain works, Archive.org in a variety of formats.
   I don't take well to racism. I feel this to be especially true about Native Americans, for whom I feel a great sense of respect. In the movies, when I see them, I don't see their ugly faces. I don't think their faces are ugly at all. I have a great deal of respect for their faces, even if they are the enemy of the given protagonist in the film; even if they do some bad deeds. I just don't get the idea that they're ugly. I'm left to my own view or aesthetic sensibilities. In the books, however, one gets into the mind of the writer and the characters. Those are ugly Indians. They're dirty. They're redskins. It really bothers me a lot. Maybe I'll give some more western style books a try in the future. But so far, the few that I have read are similar in how disrespectful they are to those whom we ought to view as our adopted ancestors.
   This book is a story about a famous individual. According to Wikipedia, he was a real man. How much of these stories are made up, embellished, or perhaps fairly accurate, no one can really know. Most likely it's a mix of all those. In any case, it's a book about how he fought in Kentucky for the settlers of the land.
   The way that they treated the Native Americans, and the way that Native Americans were often played as pawns in the games of white men, and summarily destroyed for trying to reclaim what had been their territory, is painful to read. It is of little consolation that, at the end of the struggle for dominance over that land, Daniel Boone himself was dispossessed by land speculators and swindlers. Sadly, though, those dispossessed Native Americans have yet to recover, and are the most ill treated minorities in America.
   I don't think I really recommend it. Though, it's an easy and quick read.