The Border Men (review)

Abstract

study of 1962. Though he mentions the role of the West Virginia primary of May 1960—"the primary that made the President"—he says notMng of the sentiment of the country at large that produced Michael Harrington's The Other America. Bradshaw, in short, has confined his view pretty much to government agencies . His bibliography reflects this. He is most complete in documents of die various government agencies, but does not include titles by James Branscome, the Mountain Eaßle, Wilma Dykeman, Howard Odum, Rupert Vance, or Willis D. Weatlierford. His failure to consult books by Odum, Vance, and James Shelton Reed seems most strange for a student of American regions. —Richard B. Drake Cameron Judd. The Border Men. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. 453 pages. $4.99. Cameron Judd from Greene County, Tennessee, continues his saga of the Tennessee frontier with this novel, The Border Men, which is the sequel to his 1991 novel The Overmountain Men. Together, the two books span nearly thirty years of Tennessee frontier history, 1757-1783. On the paperback shelf, they are apt to be overlooked as examples of Appalachian literature because they are mixed in with and surrounded by novels of the western frontier. Although Cameron Judd, the author of twelve other Bantam novels, is hailed as "a new voice of the Old West," in these two books he powerfully evokes the earlier, eastern, frontier. In an afterword to the first book, Judd says that he wrote "with two goals in mind. The first and most important is to present readers an entertaining story; the second is to provide an overview, through interweaving the story's fictional aspect with abundant history, of the thrust of Tennessee's frontier development during the period depicted." With both volumes, he succeeds admirably because of his credibly drawn main character, Joshua Colter. Although there is nothing especially extraordinary about the very likable Joshua, he does live through some extraordinary times. Though he may lack the charisma of a John Sevier or the mystical aura of a Daniel Boone, he is nevertheless the perfect hero for Judd's purposes. Readers who already know the history of the Appalachian frontier can enjoy seeing how Joshua Colter plays his part among dramatic events. Those who don't know much of the history can easily grasp the eighteenth century background for this enjoyable, often thrilling , tale of an honorable frontiersman and his family. Judd's narrative is rewarding for either type of reader. 67 At the heart of The Border Men is a description of the Battle of King's Mountain in 1780. Being partial to Wilma Dykeman's account ofthat battle in her book With Fire and Sword (1978), I wished for less anecdote and more historical texture in Judd's account than I got. In his afterword, however, Judd admits that "this episode alone could easily be developed into a large novel; my treatment of it in this broader-scoped work is brief and somewhat simplified." True. But I felt a bit deprived, just as I remember feeling disappointed when Richard Waverley missed the entire Battle of Culloden in Scott's Waverley. That progenitor of historical fiction is certainly no War and Peace, and I suppose the dilemma for historical novelists faced with such a huge moment as a major battle has always been either omit it, simplify it, or devote a thousand pages to it. Cameron Judd, to his credit, does give his readers some of the high moments at King's Mountain, with historical accuracy. Best of all in this novel, as in the first, are the stories of Joshua's interaction with the Cherokee. Cameron Judd handles the sensitive issue of Cherokee/ Anglo relations very well, but the shadow of the coming Trail of Tears (1838) looms ahead. Dragging Canoe, Oconostota, Nancy Ward—all have their parts to play in Joshua's life. If Judd's hero lives to a grandfatherly eighty-eight years, he will see the events of his youth play out with tragic results. With his major characters off to Kentucky at the end of this book, there is opportunity for yet another volume; whether Judd would take it as far as 1838...