"A scholarly, stirring, and brightly written study of one of the halfdozen most interesting figures in 18th-century America before independence. Full of color and incident, it illuminates Indian life, the colonial frontier, the wars with the French, the economic forces based on furtrading and land speculation, and the tangled relations of crown, royal governors, and New World assemblies. The personality of the central figure, the indomitable Sir William Johnson, has never before been so effectively depicted."—Allan Nevins
"A fascinating characterization which should have wide popular appeal."—New York Times Book Review
"A well-rounded account of one of the frontier's most paradoxical and lusty figures."—Social Studies
"Stands the test of time."—Wendell Tripp, New York Historical Association
Description
William Johnson was among the most powerful and romantic figures in early American history. Beginning as an impoverished eighteenth century Irish immigrant, he became the wealthiest and most influential
Indian leader on the North American continent. Married to Molly Brant, sister of the celebrated Mohawk Joseph Brant, Johnson served as a mediator in the evolving clash of the European and Native American
cultures.
This new edition brings back into print a classic work that will be welcomed reading for all those interested in early American history and American-Indian relations.
About the Author
James Thomas Flexner, one of America's foremost men of letters, has written with equal distinction in the fields of history, biography, and art. Author of well over a dozen books, his monumental biography of George Washington received a Special Pulitzer Prize Citation, as well as a National Book Award. In 1988, he received the highest medal open to a biographer, the gold medal, presented only once every ten years by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
January 1990
