Paul Andrew Hutton does a fantastic job in writing this book, it had that Western element that I was wanting and enjoyed from this type of book. It was informative and had that element that worked as a historical book. I enjoyed going through this book and what shaped the American West.

I requested this ARC from NetGalley because I read the blurb and felt there was some promise that it might be a true history. And I will give author Paul Andrew Hutton credit for the fact that he does not portray the American West in the rose-colored glasses historians have traditionally donned when describing the period.

But at 5% I nearly DNFed, disgusted with his inaccurate portrayal of the Iroquois and the Treaty of Lancaster. I ultimately did continue reading, but this brief paragraph colored my entire experience of the book because at best it displayed a failure on the author’s part to adequately research his subject matter.

Unfortunately, my hopes for a history that was at the very least balanced in its telling of the parts of Western history the author chose to highlight were never realized. To be fair, it does seem as though Hutton put some effort into trying to make at least some parts of the book reflect an accurate depiction of the indigenous people’s point of view, but it’s clear even without looking at the bibliography that sources used do not count amongst them those written by indigenous scholars (a quick subsequent review of the bibliography found only two sources written by indigenous authors), and this history that was supposed to be an accurate representation of the history of the West is still very much skewed to favor the white man.

The author ascribes thoughts and feelings to indigenous peoples that he garnered from sources written by white authors, who clearly themselves had no clue regarding social or cultural context amongst the indigenous tribes of what would become America, and who clearly didn’t bother to take a moment or two to examine how the actions of those who invaded tribal lands looked when viewed through an indigenous lens. Hutton has clearly given the latter at least a moment’s thought, and I will give him credit for that, but it apparently wasn’t enough to make him educate himself on the indigenous perspective.

I was looking forward to reading this book, and I found it a disappointment. I will be fully transparent and admit that I did not finish the book. I tried to, but I found myself getting angrier the further I read, and it became clear to me that there was no way that I would be able to be impartial when I found myself wincing every time the author used the word “Indian” to refer to an indigenous tribe or tribesman. Since he does so frequently, things went downhill rapidly. We don’t generally refer to ourselves as Indians unless we’re being ironic, and while it’s entirely possible the author does not know this, I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand I feel as though a thorough researcher would learn this and write the book with appropriate language. On the other hand, I wonder if perhaps by this point, I am so irritated with the author that I am not inclined to be forgiving.

The rating I’ve given here, I have given in an attempt to be fair, but I can’t say that I either enjoyed the book or would recommend it. To call yourself historian, it seems to me, is to assume a responsibility for doing better than this.

Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and am leaving a voluntary review.

My thanks to the author, Penguin Publishing Group, and NetGalley for an opportunity to review an ARC of this new book. I attest my review is my own unbiased work.

The Undiscovered Country is a nice addition to the vast literature that attempts to portray the founding of the American West. Author Paul Andrew Hutton takes on this challenge by focusing on 7 protagonists crucial to American Western History: Daniel Boone, Red Eagle, Davy Crockett, Mangas Coloradas, Kit Carson, Sitting Bull, and William “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Many readers will recognize names like Boone, Crockett, and Carson; the addition of the other four opens up areas of history that many of us have likely not read much about.

The research is first-rate; the writing crisp and engaging. The author takes history and nonfiction and turns it into compelling reading. If you are a fan of history, and want to learn more about how the West was founded, this is a must read for you.

I give the book 5 stars.

The story of a country in four lives is the basic premise of The Undiscovered Country by Paul Andrew Hutton. I really enjoyed Hutton's previous book, The Apache Wars, so I had high hopes for this one. Like many great sequels, this one is bigger and also better.

Hutton looks at the expansion of the U.S. from before the revolution to the end of the Wild West. He uses four people as the lenses to look through for each time period. You may have heard of Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Caron, and Buffalo Bill before. I did have some worries that Hutton many end up too high-level by focusing on specific lives, but I was quite happy how fast paced the book felt without losing a tremendous amount of detail. Sure, the Apache Wars got their own book, but Hutton is able to pack a lot into a little.

This is a great book for someone who is not too well-versed in the people and time periods covered. It's just simply very good and worth a read.

(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by NetGalley and Dutton Books.)

I really liked this book as it told of people exploring our country and what they saw. It’s always interesting to me to read history through new eyes.