The Pioneers, David McCullough
The Pioneers, David McCullough
78 Rating(s)
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
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The Pioneers
The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

Bestseller

Author: David McCullough

Narrator: John Bedford Lloyd

Unabridged: 10 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/07/2019


Synopsis

The #1 New York Times bestseller by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that’s “as resonant today as ever” (The Wall Street Journal)—the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country.

As part of the Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the new United States of America, Britain ceded the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory, a wilderness empire northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A Massachusetts minister named Manasseh Cutler was instrumental in opening this vast territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families for settlement. Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery. In 1788 the first band of pioneers set out from New England for the Northwest Territory under the leadership of Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam. They settled in what is now Marietta on the banks of the Ohio River.

McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Cutler and Putnam; Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science. “With clarity and incisiveness, [McCullough] details the experience of a brave and broad-minded band of people who crossed raging rivers, chopped down forests, plowed miles of land, suffered incalculable hardships, and braved a lonely frontier to forge a new American ideal” (The Providence Journal).

Drawn in great part from a rare and all-but-unknown collection of diaries and letters by the key figures, The Pioneers is a uniquely American story of people whose ambition and courage led them to remarkable accomplishments. “A tale of uplift” (The New York Times Book Review), this is a quintessentially American story, written with David McCullough’s signature narrative energy.

About David McCullough

To say that Pittsburgh native, David McCullough, has had an interesting life would be an understatement. He was born in 1933 and is of Scots-Irish descent, and one of four sons. He is self-described as having a "marvelous" childhood. McCullough was interested in many things.......sports, art, books, and history among them. He loved every day of school. He graduated from Yale University where he felt privileged to associate with their great faculty of the likes of John O'Hara, John Heresy and others. He frequently ate lunch with Thornton Wilder, who taught him that a good writer should maintain "an air of freedom" in their writing so that the actual end is never predictable, even in non-fiction.

McCullough enjoyed delving into the research and then doing the writing of a non-fiction book. He studied Art and English, ultimately receiving his degree, with honors, in English literature at Yale (1955). While there, he was a member of Skull and Bones and served valuable apprenticeship with Time, Life, the U.S. Information Agency, and American Heritage.

McCullough has received the Pulitizer Prize for his books on Truman and John Adam's. His other books include: The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback, The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, Brave Companions, 1776, The Greater Journey, The Wright Brothers, The American Spirit, and his latest, The Pioneers.

McCullough has been a teacher, editor, lecturer, and familiar voice on television. He was the host of Smithsonian World, The American Experience, narrator of numerous documentaries such as Ken Burn's The Civil War. His narrative of Seabiscuit, the movie, and the Tom Hanks directed seven-part mini-series, John Adam's were very successful.

McCullough and his wife Rosalee have five children and nineteen grandchildren.......and one great-grandchild! In the words of a citation given with his honorary degree from Yale, "As an historian, he paints with words, giving us pictures of the American people that live, breathe, and above all, confront the fundamental issues of courage, achievement, and moral character".


Reviews

Goodreads review by Will on July 03, 2024

David McCullough - image from Ohio Magazine This is an interesting book that describes in personal detail the battles of the early revolution. We see George and company in Boston, New York City, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. McCullough paints portraits of the military leaders of those campaigns, Howe......more

Goodreads review by JanB on August 18, 2020

As the title suggests, this book covers only the year 1776, the first full year of the Revolutionary War. McCullough, with his impeccable research, used diaries, letters, and papers from officials on both sides as he narrowed his focus, giving us an up close and personal accounting of this year. Th......more

Goodreads review by Debra on February 18, 2018

How did a group of farmers beat the English Empire? Through blood, sweat and tears. Noted American Historian, David McCullough, beautifully tells the story of the birth of the United States of America. He takes just one year in the American Revolution to tell how both sides of the war felt and thoug......more

Goodreads review by Paul on July 04, 2023

1776 was a particularly important year in the American story – and not just because of the Declaration of Independence that was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4th of that year. For Americans who supported the cause of independence, the year 1776 was filled with dramatic highs and......more

Goodreads review by Ashley on July 28, 2017

This isn't the book I wanted to read, or was expecting to read, but it was good nonetheless. What I was expecting: 1. A book about the first full year of the American Revolution (this part was accurate). 2. Insight into the causes of the Revolution (absent almost completely). 3. Portrayals of the way th......more