“Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American story—the settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would come to define our country.”David McCullough has a way of making me care about something that I previously had very little knowledge of. The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West does the same. I’d have to say McCullough is my favorite historian because of the way he writes. He makes the subject interesting and always keeps the story moving. McCullough had a wealth of original source material from which to work with, and it shows.

I had no idea what The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West was about prior to picking it up. If it was written by David McCullough, it had to be interesting. This book is about the settling of the Northwest Territory in the early days of our country.

When I think of The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West, I think of the Ingalls family settling in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota, or people on the Oregon Trail.  The reason why this book is only 4 stars out of 5 is because the title and marketing does not accurately portray the content of the book.  And to be fair, the book really isn’t about all of the Northwest Territory. It’s about a small section of Ohio. A more accurate title would have been “Marrietta, Ohio: A History.”

Still, The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West was a fascinating read written by one of America’s most accessible historians.

See my review of another McCullough book, The American Spirit, by clicking here.

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