A tale of an American frontiersman you didn't hear in the history class.
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| The Thread's Must-Read |
“The Taking of Jemima Boone” by Matthew Pearl
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What I knew about Daniel Boone before reading Matthew Pearl’s terrific new book, “The Taking of Jemima Boone,” probably came from a middle school history teacher: brave, coonskin cap-wearing frontiersman; hero of America's inevitable — or so it seems now — push west.
My guess is that, back then, the teacher probably said very little about the ruthlessness with which Boone took Native American land and the complexity of his relationship with the tribes in the region.
And that’s the question at the heart of Pearl’s book: What happens to the portrait of an American frontiersman, an icon of the earliest days of this nation, when you hear the whole story?
Daniel Boone was, as Pearl writes, “a settler in the most literal sense of the word," which meant that although Boone believed, with all of the entitlement of a white pioneer of the 1700s, that he could live peacefully with the tribes in the wilds of Kentucky, he was going to have his land whether they gave it to him or he had to take it.
Pearl’s story runs on two parallel tracks: the perilous establishment of Boonesboro, an isolated, ramshackle fortress right in the middle of Shawnee and Cherokee hunting grounds; and the kidnapping of Boone’s daughter and two of her friends by a small group of Native Americans who took them into Native lands, with Boone and a posse in hot pursuit.
Boone brings the girls home in a daring rescue but when he kills the son of a powerful American Indian war chief in the clash, he sets off a cycle of violence that will culminate with his own captivity by that same Shawnee leader.
And here’s where Pearl’s book takes the most unexpected turn. Boone develops a deep respect, even love, for the tribal leaders who are holding him prisoner.
Pearl writes: “Boone’s status in the Shawnee community blossomed.”
He is adopted as a son of the chief and renamed “Sheltowee” or “Big Turtle.” And on the day that Daniel Boone finally escapes, he confides in his Native American mother that he is going to flee, telling her, “I can’t help it. I must go and see my family.”
By some accounts, Boone even promised to return.
You can listen to my interview with author Matthew Pearl on my Friday book show on Oct. 29.
— Kerri Miller | MPR News |
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| | No one's telling the truth in Joshua Ferris' new novel — or are they? | | "A Calling for Charlie Barnes" by Joshua Ferris |
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Every family is a group of unreliable narrators. Or as the narrator of Joshua Ferris' dazzling new novel puts it: "Every story we tell ourselves is some version of make-believe." And there's no shortage of make-believe in “A Calling for Charlie Barnes,” Ferris' fifth, and best, book. | |
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| | For fall, 3 novels where great translations make all the difference | "The Luminous Novel" by Mario Levrero, translated by Annie McDermott
"Kaya Days" by Carl de Souza, translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman
"Life Sciences" by Joy Sorman, translated by Lara Vergnaud |
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Sometimes, it's not the author you choose, it's the translator. So we've picked three novels where the translation will help you discover new things about the text, even if you can read the original. | |
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