BIRTH OF AMERICA BOOKS (tm)

TRAILS OF THE WHITE SAVAGES 

 

REAL PEOPLE, TRUE STORIES

HISTORICALLY ACCURATE AND FUN TO READ

(They're written like novels with dialogue based on journals, diaries and newspapers)

HISTORY AS IT HAPPENS(tm) IN HIGH ACTION AMERICAN HISTORY BOOKS

 

TRAILS OF THE WHITE SAVAGES' REVIEWS

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

323 KMB

PO BOX 24446

PROVO, UTAH 84602-4446

(802) 378-4335

FAX (802) 378-5784

 

Trails Of The White Savages

Trails Of The White Savages by Gary H. Wiles and Delores M. Brown is the true story of the Scotch-Irish and their contribution to the history of America. Included are Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston, David Crockett, mountain man Joseph R. Walker, Kit Carson and others. This epic documents the adventures of these men and others during 1813 - 1836. One theme follows the life of Joseph Walker as he fights in the Creek War under Andrew Jackson with Houston and Crockett, moves to Missouri, becomes the much-loved Sheriff of Independence and eventually joins Captain Benjamin Bonneville in their famous expedition into the West.

The reader also follows Andrew Jackson's military and political career as he rises to the Presidency and the political exploits of the legendary David Crockett who later dies fighting at the Alamo. Sam Houston's life is also documented, including his rises and falls from power, his battles with the bottle, failed marriages and eventual redemption in the battle for Texas Independence.

In the course of these accounts, the reader learns many important events that shaped the history of our nation, including Andrew Jackson's dealings with the Creek and Seminole Indians, the travails Americans faced in establishing the Santa Fe Trail, three versions of the Old Spanish Trail to California and finally the California Emigrant Trail, all key to colonizing the West.

Trails Of The White Savages is a well written historical work intended to spark readers' interest in American history. The dialogue evolves from journals, letters, autobiographies, newspaper interviews or authenticated quotes from earlier texts and brings these historical figures to life. The book ranges from light-hearted to graphically realistic. It's both an engrossing read and educational. The time frames listed at the beginning of each chapter and atop each page allow the reader to easily track the time lines of the book. Sixteen simple maps matched to explorations and action enable the reader to pinpoint pertinent trails and geographic locations. The book is thoroughly researched and well documented with an extensive bibliography that scholars will find useful. Written in the format of a documentary, this book is also a great source for the student seeking general background information about this era. 

Jodi Eldredge and Dr. Fred R. Gowans'

History Department

Brigham Young University

'Dr. Gowans has written four preeminent books on the fur trade. Editor.

 

TRAIILS OF THE WHITE SAVAGES (History as it Happensä Series) [1813 -1836.

By Gary H. Wiles and Delores M. Brown. Photosensitive PO Box 7008, Hemet, CA 92545. Phone or fax [909] 765-0950 1998. 352 Pp. ISBN 1-889252-03-4. $16.95 +$1.00 shipping

Possible Subjects: [Scots in America], [California Spanish period], [American History. Nineteenth Century], [Missouri Nineteenth Century], [American History. Seminole Wars] [Native American History], [Texas. Texas Revolution].

It is difficult to adequately describe in words the impact of the authors' History As It Happensä style of writing. The only way I can even come close is to go back many years when I eagerly awaited the weekly CBS sponsored series "You Are There" (1953-1957). Featuring on-the-scene reporter Walter Cronkite, the series emotionally drew viewers in as if they were actually on the scene, first hand, to witness dramatic historical events. I owe much of my love of history to programs of this type and writing like TRAILS OF THE WHITE SAVAGES.

There is no detached reader when one dives into TRAILS OF THE WHITE SAVAGES! Agreeing with Ray Glazner, in his fine Foreword to the book, one can hear the characters "... talking in their own words." Such a style of writing allows the reader right into the minds and hearts of such White Savages as Andrew Jackson, Kit Carson, the Walkers and Sam Houston as the authors unfold their influence on American history in a holistic, chronological manner. In both the case of such a television program and this finely crafted book, the artisans succeed in truly bringing history to life.

There could be no better title than ... WHITE SAVAGES to describe the revulsion Benjamin Franklin and other colonists felt for the outcast Scottish emigrants, first exiled to Northern Ireland by the British, then hounded with tyrannical taxes and religious persecution from Ireland to America, where these White Savages became a major part of the backbone of colonial and early frontier culture. This epic embraces the War of 1812, the process of Indian Removal, Seminole Wars, Westward Expansion, arrival of trappers in Alta California, Missouri's emergence, the Texas Revolution with the heroic stand at the Alamo and final vindication at San Jacinto. The laboriously crafted 9,000 word index with dates and places of birth of all central figures compendicizes the lives of over 300 persons between 1813 and 1836 on land that was, or would become 35 states for which all admission dates into the Union are specified. The 16 maps and 11 portraits, the wealth of quoted documents and 169 volume bibliography are ample testimony to this book's suitability as a reference source.

Within this driving narrative readers come face to face with such stark contrasts in character as that between the fiery Andrew Jackson who dismembered his enemies at Horseshoe Bend and Chalmette while the gentle Joe Walker kept the peace in Independence by making his enemies into friends. This book is a great insight into the history of the human condition and a marvelous read.

Chuck Hamsa, Collection Development Bibliographer

Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana and

Reviewer's Consortium, Lafayette, Louisiana

 

 

In TRAILS OF THE WHITE SAVAGES authors Gary Wiles and Delores Brown have created not only a fine work of history, but it is as readable as a novel.

Using their history as it happensä methods, they have made famous and infamous historical figures live again in well researched, true life adventures so vivid and outlandish the rashest novelist could never risk portraying them as fiction.

As you read page after page of real history, you "hear" Andrew Jackson, Kit Carson, the Walkers, Sam Houston and many other legendary Americans "talking" in their own words. It affords an appreciation of history that is the next best thing to being there.

The book flows well. It illuminates actual humorous, frightening or deplorable incidents that are only hinted at in most history books. It is an in-depth study of an often overlooked era of American History intimately exploring the people and the pathways of westward expansion and the fur trade of the early 1800s.

Impressively researched, backed by a host of understandable maps, a pervasive bibliography and the intricate social and historical trappings of the times, this book should be required reading for everyone interested in the history of our country.

                                                                           Ray Glazner

 

Simi Valley, California's Ray Glazner is a distinguished educator, historian, historical re-enactor and consultant to state and national museums as well as the entertainment industry.

 

Click below for Trails Of The White Savages'

......Table of Contents.......Reader Letters............Rendezvous Legacy

Find Out # Of Chapters In Your State.....About Us

Read Chapter 4 HEROES OF HORSESHOE BEND

Read Chapter 37 THE THINNEST VENEER

Read Chapter 45 ICE, WONDERS & SKYFIRE

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