Lewes History Book Festival event: Authors to discuss

July 15th, 2021 - 5:00 pm

Authors to Discuss Conquest of American Frontier
During July 15 History Book Festival Event

Iconic pioneer Daniel Boone’s integral role in opening the American frontier is the subject of a History Book Festival presentation on July 15.  New York Times bestselling authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin will discuss Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier (St. Martin’s Press, 2021) during a Zoom-based event beginning at 5 PM EDT. A question-and-answer session will follow the authors’ conversation.

The program is free, but pre-registration is required. To reserve a spot, visit www.historybookfestival.org.

Hailed by USA Today as “exquisitely told … remarkably detailed,” Blood and Treasure presents the story of colonists’ efforts to conquer and settle the North American frontier beyond the Appalachian Mountains in the mid-18th Century. The expansion led to a series of violent conflicts with the French, with the Native American tribes whose lands the colonists coveted, and finally against Britain itself in a revolution destined to reverberate around the world.

Through their painstaking research, Drury and Clavin document the brutal birth of the United States through the eyes of both the ordinary and larger-than-life men and women who witnessed it. Boone – the Revolutionary War hero and explorer, not the coonskin cap-wearing caricature of popular culture – serves as the guide to the epic narrative.

Drawing from contemporary diaries and journals, newspaper reports, and eyewitness accounts, Blood and Treasure is a stirring chronicle of the conflict over America’s “First Frontier” that places the reader at the center of this remarkable epoch and its gripping tales of courage and sacrifice.

The book also sheds new light on Boone, America’s first and arguably greatest pathfinder.

The authors tell us, for example, that Boone “had always despised, and would for the rest of his life, his outsize reputation as an Indian fighter.” In fact, Boone respected and sought to emulate the Native Americans and lived for a time with the Shawnee.

Bob Drury, the recipient of several national journalism awards, is a three-time National Magazine Award finalist as well as a Pulitzer Prize nominee. He honed his investigative skills writing for New York City newspapers and a variety of national publications.

Tom Clavin has worked as a newspaper and website editor, magazine writer, TV and radio commentator, and as a reporter for The New York Times. He has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and the National Newspaper Association.

Among their many books, Drury and Clavin have collaborated on The Heart of Everything That Is, Lucky 666, Halsey’s Typhoon, Last Men Out, and The Last Stand of Fox Company.

Copies of Blood and Treasure are available at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, the official bookseller of the History Book Festival. The book also may be purchased at biblion in Lewes. Books purchased at either shop come with a signed archival bookplate.

The program is part of the 2021 History Book Festival, which features noted authors of newly published historical fiction and nonfiction works. The virtual events will occur weekly through the end of August.

For a complete list of the upcoming presentations and detailed information on each program, visit www.historybookfestival.org.

Presenting sponsors of the 2021 History Book Festival are Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Gallo Realty.

In addition to the Lewes Public Library, the Festival’s online programs are supported by the Delaware Division of Libraries and Sussex County Libraries.

The History Book Festival, now in its fifth year, is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history.

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