Edwin Tunis (1897–1973)

I did not read every word. It is very readable, but there was too much history (compared to the Guide as promised in the title) in it for me. The illustrations were great, esp. of the actually tools and gear. Now, I wouldn't necessarily object to all that text of Westward Ho, but too much of it was written in such a way that the reader will absolutely need other sources for confirmation.

For example, there's no syntactical markers in the discussions of "savage Indians" and "witches" to show show more that the author is expressing the perspective of the settler/ pioneer, not of himself. And many times there was reference to "people thought/ did" something when what was actually meant was "many but not all adult white men in this particular place and time thought/ did" it.

There is an index, but no bibliography, timeline, glossary, or other helpful appendix. All of those were sorely missed: not just on principle, but also because I really needed them to understand fully what I was supposed to be learning.

It's got some appeal, I think, to fans of the "Little House" books by Wilder, and some to fans of "My Side of the Mountain." And if you do like the actual instructions for building worm fences and using different kinds of plows, look to the books of [a:Eric Sloane|250725|Eric Sloane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1226718883p2/250725.jpg], for example [b:A Museum of Early American Tools|3484670|A Museum of Early American Tools|Eric Sloane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391755830l/3484670._SX50_.jpg|1133081].

If I rated books that I don't read completely, I'd give it three stars with a caveat. Look it over carefully before using it with your family or students. show less

This book tells an historical story, along with its descriptions of the evolution of the ferry building and the boats. A lot of the illustration accompanies the story; there are actual characters in this one. In some of the illustrations the characters, who are fully delineated, inhabit a world of very spare, albeit precise, line drawings, with a lot of empty space, but in others the people and the things get the same amount of detail. Perhaps the drawings with the empty space are the most show more conjectural? There are still a few purely technical drawings of the kind that occur throughout Tunis's "Colonial Craftsmen". There is an illustration of a fulling mill of a different and most appealing design, which maybe I'll be able to make a model of some day.

The ferry itself is on the Delaware near where the battle of Trenton was fought and the story proper ends with that battle. The end of the ferry is described in the postscript. show less

An excellent oversized non-fiction book with words and drawings illustrating each aspect of frontier life. Tunis describes customs, tools, architecture, and all manner of life, beautifully illustrated with pen and ink drawings and maps.

An excellent book with great descriptions and illustrations. Written in such a way that even land-lubbers can understand, I plan to save this for reference while I read my sea adventure books. This takes you on a brief tour of ships throughout history.