Daniel Boone: An American Life by Michael A. Lofaro (review)

in his approach to spelling and capitalization." ( xxi) A number of editorial marks provide a guide when the editor felt it absolutely necessary to make a correction, or when the handwriting or the condition of the document made it impossible to figure out what Clark had written on the page. Each chapter also begins with an introduction outlining the general contents of the chapter,and that serves as a helpful guide to the significance of the letters reprinted there. The exacting editorial standards that Holmberg chose to use certainly made his task more difficult,but the end result is all the more impressive , and the overall product much more useful than it might have been otherwise. Although some of the information in Clark's writings will seem unsurprising,the letters in which Clark reacts to Lewis' death are emotional and insightful . These letters also seem to echo the belief of later historians that Lewis took his own life. Also of interest are several letters detailing Clark' s treatment of York,his famous slave. In recent years, historians have lauded Clark' s treatment of York, noting that on the expedition Clark' s slave sometimes carried a gun,sometimes went hunting on his own, and was, to modern eyes, almost a regular member of the corps. But in William Clark's letters to his brother we find a very different story,a more normal" portrait of a slave owner in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In November 1808, for example,when York told Clark that he'd prefer being sold than to move from one city to another, Clark threatened to sell the slave down the river to New Orleans. ( 160) In another letter,Clark notes that York was " insolent and Sulky" which brought on a " Severe trouncing." ( 201) Other letters detail similar treatment and will help reduce Clark's status from enlightened despot to a typical southern slave owner. In all,Dear Brother is a firstrate collection of letters that will both confirm and overturn many commonly held preconceptions about William Clark. It is a volume that historians and lay scholars alike should find very useful and interesting; it should be considered a musthave for anyone wishing to understand not only William Clark but also this chapter of early American history. Andreit, McMicbael Westent Kentucky University Michael A. Lofaro. Daniel Boone: An American Life. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky,2003. 216 pp. ISBN: 0813122783 ( cloth), $ 25.00. InJohn Ford'sclassicTheMan V/ boSbotLib erty Valance,gunslinger Tom Doniphon C.John Wayne) shoots the outlaw iii order that the educated and civilized lawyer Ransom Stoddard Jimmy Stewart)can get the girl and become a U.S. Senator,bringing law and order to the West,if not American civilization as well. At its best, Michael Lofaro' s Daniel Boone:An American Life develops a similar theme in the life of the frontiersman. Full of artfully woven vignettes, stories and anecdotes, the book seems to support a vague Turnerian notion of Boone as spearheading a civilizing process echoed in the book title) that eventually leads to his downfall. But while this material is lively and colorful, the book as a whole will be disappointing to academics. The author's immense efforts to reveal details of Boone' s life result in satisfying stories, but the stories are overshadowed by the lack of consistent effort to explore the significance of that life in American history. To be sure, Lofaro places Boone in the Revolutionary Era, describing and explaining his roles in Kentucky as entrepreneur and explorer, army officer and elected representative. Occasionally we are provided a conclusion or hypothesis as to the meaning or significance of the events that unfold before us. For instance,the author writes: Perhaps, the recent experience of the France and Indian War"made the people in Kentucky more SPRING 2005 83 prone to sharing. ( 36) More often, however,the author provides his reader with tidbits of information that have no clear link to an argument,such as when he dispells the myth of Boone's teetotalism by noting that he once purchased two quarts of rum 40), or that the grandfather of Abraham Lincoln may have been in the party"that...