Frontier Living

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 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 show more 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

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.

This provided a lot of good information for helping me understand my fourth great grandfather's journal about his life in the 1800's.

Tools with drawings beginning with frontiersman