Good Books?

[Cpl.Parker]

From what I gather "Sketch Books" are held in low regard. I am interested in opinions regarding the following 5 books:

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The Frontier Rifleman
by Richard B. LaCrosse, Jr.

A well-illustrated book that gives detailed descriptions of the clothing, arms and equipment of the frontier rifleman during the period 1760 to 1800.

and

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The Longhunter's Sketchbook
by James A. Hanson

The longhunter had his origin in the 17th century Dutch "boschloper" and the French coureur de bios. His rifle and costume were efficient, beautiful, and completely American. He was self sufficient in the best frontier tradition. This sketchbook shows the arms, tools, horns, clothing patterns and more of the American longhunter. 48 pages.

and

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Fur Trade Cutlery Sketchbook
by James A. Hanson

Detailed scale drawings of the types of knives used in the fur trade from colonial times to the early 20th century. Over 50 examples from the Museum of the Fur Trade. 48 pages.

and

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Recreating the American Longhunter 1740-1790
by Joseph Ruckman

An exploration of the life, clothing, and gear of the longhunter of America's frontiers.

and

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Voyager's Sketchbook
by James A. Hanson

48 pages which include scale patterns of footwear, clothing, ration boxes, powder horns, pouches, jewelry and more, used by the fur trade voyager.

Thank you,
Kevin

 

[DGeraths]

Recreating the American Longhunter 1740-1790
by Joseph Ruckman

Kevin,

This is the only one that I personally have so I can at least review this one for you.

:imo: This book is a great reference for anyone interested in creating a realistic and well researched Longhunter persona. Mr. Ruckman has certainly done his research and although I am sure there are a few people out there who disagree with some of his ideas, I personally see no reason to doubt much of anything this book has to say.

Ruckman uses journal entries, historical records and personal accounts as a basis for his conclusions. All in all, a great basic run down, head to toe, of the American Longhunter of the mid to late 18th century.

I would put it on my "must have" list for sure.

 

Sometimes one does not buy a book to get the book. Sometimes one buys the book to obtain the primary source references within the book.

This is the case with The Frontier Rifleman. The information in the book is not at all impressive, but the references the author quotes are first person accounts and observation worth researching.

I believe that this work was Mr Lacrosse's thesis effort and is well referenced and documented, but very dated.

In the world of the historian secondary source references older than 10 years are often discounted by ones professors, not allowed, taboo. "New history" is discovered daily, and new secondary sources are printed to keep up with the flow.

None of these books is new enough to be accepted as a reference in a college research paper. The sketch books would be discounted out of hand as not documented properly.

Go straight to the primary sources for building a persona. Why take someone's opinion when you can have the origional observations. There are a great number of primary source documents available on line. PM me if you need a list.