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"The Hunters of Kentucky: America's First Far West,
1750-1792"
Kentucky remains a symbol of America's
first Far West. A New World Eden that sparked mass migration through the
Cumberland Gap and down the Ohio, and ultimately, creation of the Union's
fifteenth state.
Once Kentucky's realm was a forbidding
land an "island in the wilderness" that some deemed "The
Dark and Bloody Ground." Daniel Boone was not the first white man
to behold Kentucky's herds, timber, and lush soil. Boone, like other explorers,
surveyors and hunters, was a beneficiary of knowledge from the Indians,
French trappers, English adventurers and deer slayers looking Westward,
whose life songs have remained largely muted.
Seeking to restore a balance lacking
in most histories, Ted Franklin Belue will tell of the sweep of human
tide infiltrating Kentucky and of those famous and those less heralded
ordinary yet extraordinary men whose exploits and perseverance in the
face of perils and hardships shaped the destiny of the United States.
Implicit too, as time allows, will be Belue's thoughts on dress, arms
and accouterments, Long Hunters, and impact of James Fenimore Cooper's
"Leatherstocking Tales.
About the Speaker:
Ted Franklin Belue
Descended from a long line
of Carolina Huguenots and Mississippians, Ted Franklin Belue has a deep
love for the American frontier. In the 1960s at his grade school in Orlando,
Florida, he read a book on Daniel Boone that completely captivated him.
Firmly hooked, he spent the next few years scouting out libraries, lugging
home armloads of books on Boone, Simon Kenton, Simon Girty, Shawnee Indians
and Kentucky rifles.
In 1990 Belue made his writing debut
in "Muzzleloader" and in 1993 joined the staff as a Special
Features writer. To date he has published more than seventy essays in
trade and scholarly press, in addition to prominent living history magazines
as "Muzzleloader" and others. His articles have appeared in
Garland's "The American Revolution, 1775 1783: An Encyclopedia,"
"The Kentucky Encyclopedia," "Filson Club History Quarterly,"
"Bluegrass Unlimited," "The Book of Buckskinning VII,"
"The Book of Buckskinning VIII," and many such publications.
The summer of 1991 Belue worked
for seven weeks as an extra and stand in for the motion picture "The
Last of the Mohicans," and has portrayed various personae on The
History Channel in episodes of "River Pirates," "Frontier
Medicine," and "Carson & Cody: The Hunter Heroes."
In 2001 he was hired as a primary script and technical consultant and
on air commentator for The History Channel's "Boone & Crockett:
The Hunter Heroes," a two-hour presentation which won A & E's
network's award for "Best Documentary," an honor seconded by
the Western Writers of America.
Besides his extensive magazine
work, Belue is author of "The Long Hunt: Death of the Buffalo East
of the Mississippi" (1996), editor of "A Sketch of the Life
and Character of Daniel Boone" (1997) and of Lyman C. Draper's landmark
biography, "The Life of Daniel Boone" (1998). All three books
were nominated for the Kentucky Governor's Award and the last called by
"Publishers Weekly," "a treasure trove of Early Americana."
Belue's newest (2003) publication,
"The Hunters of Kentucky: A Narrative History of America's First
Far West, 1750 1792," tells of the sweep of human tide infiltrating
the middle ground and has been nominated for the Western Writers of America's
Spur Award for Best Historical Non Fiction and, was deemed by multi Pulitzer
Prize nominee and well-known author, Allan W. Eckert, to be "one
of the most remarkable books on the Kentucky frontier ever penned."
Belue was selected for inclusion
in "Contemporary Authors, 1998 99 and 2003 04," and for "International
Authors and Writers Who's Who, 2001 02." In January 1999 his work
was profiled in "Humanities: the magazine of the National Endowment
for the Humanities," and he has served as editorial advisor for the
"Filson Historical Society" and speaker for the "Kentucky
Humanities Council".
In addition to his historical writings,
Ted is a bluegrass musician and keenly interested in natural history,
conservation, and man's relationship to his environment. He lives in Murray,
Kentucky, with his wife Lavina and currently is a lecturer for the Department
of History at Murray State University.
Examples
of
Ted Franklin Belue's Work
Click
image for larger view. Click the name and read a review of his work.
ORDER
NOW
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A
Sketch of the Life and Chrater Of Daniel Boone
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The
Hunters of Kentucky: A Narrative History Of America's First Far
West, 1750-1792
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The
Long hunt: Death of the Buffalo East of the mississippi
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The
Life of Daniel Boone
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FUTURE SHOW DATES
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March 20-21,
2010
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March 19-20,
2011
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March 17-18,
2012
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Copyright © 2007 Yankee Doodle Muzzle Loaders, Inc. All rights reserved.
This website may not be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the written permission
of Yankee Doodle Muzzle Loaders, Inc.
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This
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