American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett
Read American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett Online
Authors: Buddy Levy
Tags: #Legislators - United States, #Political, #Crockett, #Frontier and Pioneer Life - Tennessee, #Military, #Legislators, #Tex.) - Siege, #Davy, #Alamo (San Antonio, #Pioneers, #Frontier and Pioneer Life, #Tex.), #Adventurers & Explorers, #United States, #Pioneers - Tennessee, #Historical, #1836, #Soldiers - United States, #General, #Tennessee, #Biography & Autobiography, #Soldiers, #Religious
Table of Contents
THREE - The Dutiful Son Becomes a Man
SEVEN - “The Gentleman from the Cane”
TEN - Crockett’s Declaration of Independence
ELEVEN - “Nimrod Wildfire” and “The Lion of the West”
TWELVE - A Bestseller and a Book Tour
THIRTEEN - “That Fickle, Flirting Goddess” Fame
FOURTEEN - Lone Star on the Horizon
SIXTEEN - Smoke from a Funeral Pyre
“In a lively mix of clean prose and Crockett’s own words, Buddy Levy’s
American Legend
provides a rare look beneath the fabric of legend to the man underneath. This is the frontiersman turned statesman, who keeps his eye on the rights of Indians and the common man, but loses sight of himself in the myth he has helped create. Three cheers for Buddy Levy, who makes history into a real page-turner—a fascinating read.”—Claire Davis, author of
Season of the Snake
“A great myth-busting story, written in a taut narrative style that is guaranteed to keep the reader up all hours turning the pages. Painstakingly researched, with an eye toward nuance and the telling vignette, this crackling piece of work presents Davy Crockett as a man of genius and folly, which has the unlikely effect of making him all the more heroic.”—Martin Dugard, author of
The Last Voyage of Columbus
and
Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone
“Buddy Levy’s
American Legend
proves that history can be as spell-binding and dramatic as any novel and as compelling as any reportage. His account of the life and deeds of Davy Crockett rockets from a young man’s travels in the new republic to a living legend’s heroic last days at the Alamo. Along the way, we meet other giants in that era of the common man and the Old West—Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston, Jim Bowie—and Levy brings every one of them to life again. This is can’t-put-it-down storytelling at its best.”
—Peter Hoffer,
Distinguished Research Professor of History,
The University of Georgia
Also by Buddy Levy
Echoes on Rimrock:
In Pursuit of the Chukar Partridge
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Copyright © 2005 by Buddy Levy.
Map by Jeffrey L. Ward.
Portrait of Davy Crockett (1786-1836), 1834 (w/c on paper) by De Rose, Anthony Lewis (1803-36) © New York Historical Society, New York/Bridgeman Art Library; Image of The Fall of the Alamo © Stringer/Getty Images; Photograph of rifle © John Donelson.
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eISBN : 978-1-440-68473-9
Levy, Buddy, date.
American legend : the real-life adventures of David Crockett / Buddy Levy.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN : 978-1-440-68473-9
1. Crockett, Davy, 1786-1836. 2. Pioneers—Tennessee—Biography. 3. Frontier and pioneer
life—Tennessee. 4. Tennessee—Biography. 5. Legislators—United States—Biography.
6. United States. Congress. House—Biography. 7. Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.)—Siege, 1836.
8. Soldiers—United States—Biography. I. Title.
F436.C95L
976.8’04’092—dc22
No man can make his name known to the forty millions of this great and busy republic who has not something very remarkable in his character or in his career. But there is probably not an adult American, in all these widespread States, who has not heard of David Crockett. His life is a veritable romance, with the additional charm of unquestionable truth. . . . As such, his wild and wondrous life is worthy of the study of every patriot.
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT, 1874
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people deserve thanks for their assistance at various levels in the creation of this book. My core group of writing colleagues, the Free Range Writers, has been supportive and constructively critical throughout the entire process of this book and during all my writing endeavors since the late 1980s, and my appreciation of their support is deep and abiding. They are Collin Hughes, Kim Barnes, Jane Varley, and Lisa Norris. My agent, Scott Waxman, was instrumental in the conception of this work, and he provided sage counsel during the proposal phase, offering a shrewd editorial eye and positive vision for what the book could become. He is creative, attentive, exceptional. Thanks also to his colleague Sally Wofford-Girand for recognizing that Scott and I would be a good fit and for introducing us, and to Rob Buchanan for first taking an interest in the book. Chris Pepe, my editor at Putnam, offered excellent advice and keen insight throughout, her wealth of experience showing in her deft sense of pacing and brevity. Working with her has been a genuine pleasure.