Born on a Mountaintop: On the Road with Davy Crockett and the Ghosts of the Wild Frontier
Pioneer. Congressman. Martyr of the Alamo. King of the Wild Frontier. As with all great legends, Davy Crockett's has been retold many times. Over the years, he has been repeatedly reinvented by historians and popular storytellers. In fact, one could argue that there are three distinct Crocketts: the real David as he was before he became famous; the celebrity politician whose backwoods image Crockett himself created, then lost control of; and the mythic Davy we know today.
In the road-trip tradition of Sarah Vowell and Tony Horwitz, Bob Thompson follows Crockett's footsteps from the Tennessee river valley where he was born, to Washington, where he served three terms in Congress, and on to Texas and the gates of the Alamo, seeking out those who know, love and are still willing to fight over Davy's life and legacy.
Born on a Moutaintop will be more than just a bold new biography of one of the great American heroes.Thompson's rich mix of scholarship, reportage, humor, and exploration of modern Crockett landscapes will bring Davy Crockett's impact on the American imagination vividly to life.
MY REVIEW: Frontiersman, politician, and genuine American Icon, Davy Crockett was a legend in his own time. Although his time on Earth was relatively short, just forty-nine years, he achieved much before that fateful battle at the Alamo ended his celebrated life. His legendary status will live on forever, and it will never be equaled in its uniqueness. Author Bob Thompson offers a fascinating look into the blended facts and fallacies of Crockett's life in: "Born on a Mountaintop--On the Road with Davy Crockett and the Ghosts of the Wild Frontier". The author's journey following the course of Crockett's life is intriguing, often surprising, and once again affirms why our true-life heroes deserve a place of honor in our hearts and minds. This is a wonderfully entertaining book for people like me who love American History. Just a shade less enjoyable than the book itself are the "Notes on Sources", which are a mini-book in themselves. My favorite "note" is the one in which the author extols the excellence of a children's CD in which actor Nicolas Cage portrays Davy Crockett. Cage's performance is described as "seamless" (Go Nic!), and hearing the author's description of the CD makes it more than okay to be a kid at heart, wanting to walk in Davy Crockett's footsteps as he made his history-making way across America. Dust off your coonskin cap--fake it if you don't have one--and settle in to get to know the King of the Wild Frontier. You'll be glad you did. Recommended.
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Reviews
“Born on a Mountaintop is an enjoyable journey along the trail of Crockett’s life and legend — part road trip and part history lesson....[Thompson's] storytelling displays considerable good humor and an admirable amount of research. You can almost see him smiling at some of the madcap stuff he is told along the way." --Washington Post
“Bob Thompson can flat-out write, and he paints a vivid picture here of David Crockett, who was a far more complex and interesting man—and myth—than his coonskinned, bear-hunting, Alamo-defending iconic image. He combines excellent research and a born storyteller’s skill to create a lively and entertaining look at one of America’s great characters. This is road-trip history at its best.” – Jim Donovan, author of The Blood of Heroes
“Born on a Mountaintop explores the blurry boundary between America’s legends and histories, and how the relationship between the two often tells us much about the construction of belief in the absence of hard facts. And, it is also a great road trip--one that leaves you wanting to have ridden shotgun along the way.” – Charles Frazier, author of Nightwoods and Cold Mountain
"Bob Thompson's shrewd and heartfelt account of his year-long journey through the thickets of Davy Crockett lore is essential reading for anyone who's ever worn a coonskin cap, dreamt of the wild frontier, or remembered the Alamo. A briskly entertaining book that nonetheless has serious things to say about how we memorialize--and inevitably mythologize--the iconic figures of our history." – Gary Krist, author of City of Scoundrels
"I opened this book intending to skim a few pages but immediately became hooked. Thompson does a splendid job of evoking the life and legend of David Crockett--the immortal 'Davy' who captivated young Americans because of Fess Parker's portrayal in the 1950s, served as an icon for Anglo-Texans who venerated the memory of the Alamo, and served as a touchstone for anyone drawn to the image of backwoods characters who triumphed in America. By turns engrossing, hilarious, and moving, it undoubtedly will find a large and appreciative audience.” - Gary W. Gallagher, author of Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollyood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War
“Part travelogue, part biography, part history, Born on a Mountaintop is most of all a pure pleasure to read. The passion in Bob Thompson's search for the truth about Davy Crockett springs from every page, and by the end, his search has become our own.” -David Finkel, author of The Good Soldiers
“If Confederates In The Attic shifted its focus to frontier legend David Crockett, the result would be Born on a Mountaintop. Bob Thompson's highly personal and witty new book looks with perception at the real Crockett as opposed to the mythical "Davy," how Americans embraced the latter in his own time, and how popular culture has handled his multiple persona since his death. Crockett is a virtually irresistible character in his own right, but Thomson somehow succeeds in making him even more appealing.” - William C. Davis, author of Three Roads to the Alamo
"Bob Thompson blazes the dangerous trail between myth and history with the skill of a fine scholar and the wit of a born storyteller. I never realized the search for Davy Crockett, real and imagined, could be so enlightening and so much fun."
- Michael Kazin, Professor of History, Georgetown University and author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation
Bob Thompson
Bob Thompson dropped out of graduate school in American history after just three weeks and has been trying to make up for it ever since. Turning to journalism after stints as a house painter and a librarian, he spent 24 years writing and editing in-depth feature stories at the Washington Post. He edited the Post's Sunday magazine, wrote author profiles for the paper's Style section, and developed a particular interest in bringing complex historical narratives to life. The father of two grown daughters, he lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Deborah Johnson, a journalist turned children's bookseller. Born on a Mountaintop is his first book.
https://www.authorbobthompson.com/
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