Frontier Illinois (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier) |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Illinois History > Item 54
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Frontier Illinois (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier)
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by James Edward Davis
Sales Rank: 390371
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List Price: $19.95
$19.95
At Amazon
on 8-3-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 515 pages
Published by: Indiana University Press September 2000
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0253214068
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0253214065
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
Weighs: 1.7 pounds
From Kirkus Reviews
A comprehensive, readable history of this distinctive prairie state before the Civil War. Davis (History/Illinois Coll.; Frontier America, 18001840, not reviewed) takes us from the time when what is now the state of Illinois was nothing but uninhabited land to the year in which its previously defeated senatorial candidate, Abraham Lincoln, became president of the US. In between, Illinois passed from native through French and briefly British, finally to American hands and went from a frontier wilderness to a prosperous urban society. Davis analyzes this complex transformation in consistently lively prose, scanting neither the main characters nor the more impersonal forces that brought this change about. Native Americans are front and center through much of the story. So, too, are the diverse populations of European settlersFrench and post-Revolution Americans uppermostand African-Americans, both slave and free. What helped make this most south-reaching midwestern state distinctive was its dual in-migration of southerners moving north, often with their slaves, and easterners moving west with their free-soil culture. Out of the original territories of the Old Northwest, established by the great Ordinance of 1787, Illinois became a state in 1818, after political shenanigans that won it statehood without the minimum number of inhabitants required by law and with the questionable addition, from the Wisconsin Territory, of thousands of square miles that included the land on which Chicago, the Midwest's greatest city, rose. Throughout all of these developments, and especially the gradual erosion of slavery, this ``far distant country'' remained comparatively free of violence and attached to communal norms. Davis ends his tale when Illinois, no longer a frontier land, had become the most highly urbanized of any state west of the Appalachians on the eve of the Civil War. This deft synthesis of existing knowledge is likely to become the standard modern history of Illinois. (13 b&w photos, 5 maps, not seen.) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
"A comprehensive, readable history of this distinctive prairie state before the Civil War. . . . This deft synthesis of existing knowledge is likely to become the standard modern history of Illinois." --Kirkus Reviews
" . . . an incisive portrait of prairie society." --Choice
"Extensively researched, and with great endnotes, Frontier Illinois is an important study. A lively account of how the frontier gave shape to the later state, it questions traditional stereotypes of the West and offers a new outlook as to the real nature of the Illinois frontier." --Journal of the Early Republic
In this engaging history of the frontier period of Illinois from the earliest civilizations to the eve of the Civil War-James Davis keeps us mindful of what happened to Illinois' ordinary people.
One of his most important findings, and a major theme of this book, is the relative absence of violence-at least after the Blackhawk War of 1832 which removed the last substantial Indian presence from the state. Among whites, however, whether they came from the upland South or from Yankee roots, struggles over land, court houses, county seats, railroads, markets, and even the explosive fugitive slave question were resolved with a minimum of bloodshed.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Frontier Illinois (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier) (Hardcover)
Lytton Strachey wrote that the most illuminating histories tend to "shoot a revealing searchlight into obscure recesses. . ." (Eminient Victorians). The history of the Illinois frontier ought to be one of the truly fascinating recesses of American history -- it is, after all, the scene of the confluence of multiple cultures and influence: the prehistoric Sac and Fox cultures arising from the rubble of Cahokia, the greatest North American pre-Columbian culture; the French and British Influence; the American settlement and finally the Mormon Sojourn. This ought to be a rich ground for historical writing. The end result is highly disappointing. It informs but does not inspire. The writing is tedious and bogged down and seems to have no focus or theme. This is a standard academic text, calculated to put its reader to sleep. However, the Bibliography is a helpful springboard to other research on the subject.
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Frontier Illinois (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier)
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Price: $19.95
Updated on 8-3-2008.
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