"Today
I finished reading 'Citizen Daniel.' It is wonderful! Once I
started I couldn't put it down. Congratulations on a work extremely well
done.... This book is an important addition to information about life
and conditions in this wilderness in the beginning of the 19th century.
I found it much more interesting reading than Fearon or Faux.... The
Constables were certainly an interesting but strange lot. Daniel was a
true vagabond.... What drove him to walk thousands of miles when he
could have afforded transportation? How fortunate that he has left us
such a fascinating account of his experiences. His connections with
important historical figures is interesting – such people as Thos.
Paine, Lafayette, Robert Owen, Aaron Burr, etc.... [Citizen Daniel]
becomes an important book in my library of area history."
—Kenneth
P. McCutchan, author and historian
"I've
just finished reading [Brian Jenkins'] magnum opus, with both a sense of
admiration for [the author's] skill and industry and sadness at Daniel's
untimely loss – it couldn't have been a lack of exercise! ... I can
scarcely believe the range of Daniel's life and contacts, with many of
the most significant people and events on both sides of the watery
deep.... [These records] also provide a look at early Indiana that is
rare, almost unique in its unvarnished, unblinking depiction of pioneer
life.... I suppose I found most intriguing Daniel's (and William's early
on) nonchalance in undertaking 'strolls' breathtakingly long and
difficult, while also finding time to describe them so well."
—Ralph D.
Gray, Professor Emeritus of History, Indiana University, Purdue
University Indianapolis
"You
have produced a book that is excellent in all respects. The book itself
is well-designed and beautifully produced.... Brian Jenkins has been a
conscientious, gracious, and judicious editor and a humane guide to this
past. He writes beautifully and what's more has done his research to a
high standard.... The two taken together – research and writing –
are worthy of the remarkable material. This is an important book."
—Elizabeth
Lynch, University of Virginia