DWD's Reviews

A solid bit of historical fiction Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) J ason Manning has written a series of novels about the Barlow family, starting with Lt. Timothy Barlow. The Long Hunters is set during the War of 1812 and the Seminole War and features Barlow, young Ensign Sam Houston, General Andrew Jackson and a Creek warrior/family man named Rook. The book covers the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and some of Jackson's Seminole Campaign in some detail, while we get a history book type overview of the Battle of New Orleans. Manning's books are always well-researched and I am always a bit surprised that his stuff is always marketed with the pulp fiction westerns. Not that I dislike a good Western, mind you, but Manning's stuff is a cut above. The next book in the series is The Fire-Eaters . I rate this novel 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Long Hunters .  Reviewed on August 30, 2008.

Good historical fiction about an oft-forgotten era of American History The Fire Eaters is the sequel to Long Hunters , a book about Timothy Barlow and his experiences as a young officer during the War of 1812 and the Creek Uprising with Andrew Jackson. You do not have to have read the first book to read this one. In this second book of a Barlow Trilogy, Captain Barlow is asked by Andrew Jackson to go on a fact-finding mission to find out the source of a dispute between the Cherokee and White Georgians. Jackson is pre-disposed to remove the Cherokee and Barlow is upset by the idea. However, he fulfills his mission since he is honor-bound to fulfill his duty as a soldier. Later, he is sent on another mission to deal with the nullifiers of South Carolina (AKA the 'Fire-eaters'). Andrew Jackson  (1767-1845) If you are not familiar with the real life Fire-eaters or with the issues involved with the Cherokee disputes, Manning does an exceptional job of ex...

Good summer fun! Aaron Burr (1756-1836) Flintlock is the frontier nickname of Nathaniel Jones, a deadeye shot on the Kentucky frontier. The book is ostensibly about Aaron Burr and his attempt to break the American West away from the rest of the United States in the early 1800s. For those of you not familiar with Burr, he was the former Vice President (Jefferson's first term) who killed America's first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton (the guy on your $10 bill) in a duel. This ruined his political career and he was accused of conspiring to turn the US territory East of the Mississippi and west of the Appalachians into a personal dictatorship. The book has a rather large prologue (almost 1/2 of the book) that concerns young Flintlock's exploits as a teen in the Revolutionary War on the Virginia/Kentucky frontier. To be honest, that is the only complaint that I have with the book - its back cover does not accurately describe its contents. It's a fun...