The Pioneers

 

The Pioneers – by David McCullough

A somewhat new offering by one of my favorite historical authors.  When one thinks of American “pioneers”, probably a lot of images flood the mind.  We think of the old west, log cabins, a ramshackle prefabricated town with a church, a saloon, and a sheriff’s office.  We think of men on horses, cultivating the fields with primitive equipment. We think of their wives back at the cabins sewing clothes for their huge brood of children while preserving fresh food for what will probably be a long harsh Winter.

Well, for better or worse, there’s very little of any of that in this McCullough offering. We must conclude that “Pioneers” is probably not the best title for a book such as this.  I can imagine that someone wanting to read an account of genuine “pioneers” might come away from a book such as this rather disappointed.  Perhaps this was the best title he could come up with?  Or perhaps his publisher simply wanted to sell more books?

What this book actually is, is the birth of the Ohio territory that was created with the passage of the Northwest Ordinance that came into existence when the nation of America was very young.  When talking American history, many can tell you that our young country had 13 colonies, fought a Revolutionary War, and George Washington was the first President. But what happened next?  This book tells you about one such major accomplishment and succeeds in keeping the reader highly entertained throughout.

There were a few key players, and in many ways this book could have been a biography about said individuals. Specifically, Rufus Putnam, a former general in the Revolutionary War, along with the Reverend Manasseh Cutler of Massachusetts. The Northwest Ordinance is essentially their brainchild and we read about it from the beginning. Much of the first part of this book consists of the two travelling throughout the Northeast gaining support for their dream.  Once approved, we read about the arduous journey towards what would essentially become Marietta, Ohio and the “pioneer” life begins.

Most of this book, though, is more of the history of the region for the next 50 years or so. Manasseh Cutler’s son Ephraim arrives, and over time seems to emerge as the main protagonist in our history.  Perhaps author David McCullough chose to title his book “The Pioneers” because it has much more appeal than calling his book “The Cutlers”?  Anyway…

This book is only about 260 pages (excluding endnotes etc.) in length and 50 years is a lot of history to pack into such a short volume. We read about a lot of events that happen during this time, and the short page space means we get somewhat abbreviated accounts, but I never felt cheated.  There are Indian attacks, food shortages, and yellow fever epidemics that are described in a bit of truncated detail.  We also learn about some of the historical events that peppered the new Ohio area around the time such as the scandalous ex Vice-President Aaron Burr arriving and trying to splinter the new nation through unscrupulous means.  We also read about the invention of the steamboat, and a lot of humorous anecdotes of visiting foreign celebrities, and their view of this peculiar new nation.

I would recommend that this book be required reading for anyone who was born or resides in the state of Ohio. Of course, not being from that part of the country, a lot of the people and events described may be second nature to said residents, but this is a wonderful account of how a new part of the country of America came into existence, fought bits of adversity, and manage to prosper.  Our story stops around the 1840s. We read a bit about how the inhabitants of this new area abhor slavery (thankfully), yet we can begin to feel the pot simmering as our story closes and we get close to the American Civil War.

Most of what I have read by the author is very enjoyable and this book is no exception.  Just don’t expect to read too much about the stereotypical “pioneer life” here.

Castle of Water

 

Castle of Water – by Dane Huckelbridge

Castle of Water is one of those “stranded on a desert island” stories. A 30-something year old American man and a young Paris newlywed couple charter a single engine plane from Tahiti to a smaller destination. Unfortunately their pilot likes alcohol too much and the next thing we know, the plane has crashed killing the pilot along with the newly married man.  Fortunately the other two manage to survive by drifting to a small, uncharted island about the size of a football field.  The plane had an “emergency survival kit” for such a purpose, and the two fortunately manage to salvage it so they have the means to survive with very measly means.

Things don’t start off well. The man seems somewhat levelheaded, but the Parisian woman is rightfully angry at having lost her newly betrothed husband, and she constantly releases her frustration towards the only other human being in her new abrupt existence.  Well, the two manage to solder on as best they can.  After all, this will only be a temporary travail.  Surely a rescue crew will come looking for them soon and they’ll be able to leave this desolate nightmare and get back to civilization.

Right?

What transpires is a rather sad yet touching tale. If we’re honest, it’s a tad hard to have an entire novel devoted to two people living on a deserted Pacific Island. How does an author keep such a plot fresh?  There’s only so much a reader can endure when reading about sunburned strangers forced to eat green bananas and constantly making shelters out of leaves.

We read a little bit about what life was like for these two before they arrived in their new surroundings, and these parts are quite interesting. It helps us understand the characters a bit more, and one wishes the author would have maybe included more of such a substory.  

As you can probably surmise, any time there’s a story about a man and a woman stranded on a desert island, we know it won’t take too long before the inevitable happens.  So what we do have is a lot of introspective storytelling between the two people.  They invent stories to share with each other about an alternative reality where the two of them meet in more normal circumstances.  It’s nice, and probably realistic in terms of people in such situations, but it can wear old after a bit.   The fact that our female protagonist is French can be a bit tiresome as well.  She speaks English, but the author often litters her dialogue in her native French with no explanation as to what she’s saying.  Again, perhaps real, but a bit of a hindrance.  She also says “Pfft!” a lot. I think that expression is a new one for me.

There are other things I struggled with while reading.  You would think two people who lived on such a small island over such a long time would know every nook and cranny after only a few months, yet they are constantly “discovering things” on the island.  And whereas I’m no electronics expert, I never could figure out how a shortwave radio could last without power or fresh batteries for such an extended period of time. (Although I’m sure someone with more knowledge could easily enlighten me.)

Our story actually “starts” at the “end”, so in a sense I’m not really giving you any spoilers in my review.  Probably the biggest disappointment of this book was that it ended too quickly.  This is one of those books that when you only have 10 more pages before the end, you scratch your head a bit because you realize that there really needs to be about 100 more pages to get to anything resembling a satisfying conclusion.

I still enjoyed this novel overall and was a bit disappointed to discover that this book is the author’s only novel.  Apparently he’s written a few non-fiction books around topics a tad inconsequential, but he really shouldn’t give up novel writing altogether.  This was a nice diversion, and for a “first time novel” it was quite good.