J.F. Cooper
March 30, 2009

...What I wanted to ask was why you think Fenimore Cooper's works have not made a similar comeback. I am currently reading his book "The Sea Lions", a story of a man's adventure in Antarctica hunting seals. Everyone is familiar with the Leatherstocking Tales, but I had not even realized he wrote more until finding a couple dozen of his works in a used bookstore last January. Have you heard of his other books? Thank you for such a good website! I discovered it from the link on Visionary Daughters. Sincerely, H.G.

Hannah, First of all, you should know that J.F. Cooper is in my "top 5 authors" category. He was the first real American historical fiction author, and despite his faults, he is an amazing author.

I have read about 13 or so of his books (including the Leatherstockings Tales 5 book set.) I actually own a 30 volume set of his books, circa 1880. This was a great find that I got on eBay about a year or two ago.

Even though Cooper does not have quite the same worldview that Henty or Ballantyne did, he was still living in a time when Christian ideas were widely shared. So I think he still qualifies as a generally healthy read.

About half way down this article, I have some comments on how I got my Cooper collection. Cooper really is one of the greats in book history! I have not read The Sea Lions yet, but it is definitely on my "Cooper-to-read" list.

VoD, Joshua

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 09:13 PM |

The Lord Protector
March 30, 2009

Are there any Henty books with the story centering around Oliver Cromwell? I have heard some rather negative things about him and I would like to know if they are true or not. Thanks. -Anne

Well, yes and no. There are no Henty books centered on Cromwell, but in at least one of them, Friends Though Divided, Cromwell makes a short appearance. Though Henty does not portray him as evil or bad, he definitely thought Cromwell was wrong to have gone against the King.

<center> Oliver Cromwell </center>
Oliver Cromwell


Opinions differ greatly on Cromwell, but in my estimation he is definitely a true hero. Henty had a slightly different opinion of Cromwell, but that is partly due to the fact that Henty was a Royalist and I am not. But I would still be friends with Henty, even though divided on this subject.

I would say that good men can disagree on the subject of Cromwell, but the negative opinions of him are typically based on false premises. But, Cromwell is most definitely one of my heroes.

VoD, Joshua Titus

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 06:10 PM |

Back in Action!
March 30, 2009

Back in action: After almost a month of travel and adventure in high velocity mode I'm back to post some more thoughts on the Ballantyne blog! More updates on that to follow soon...

Over the last couple weeks I have received lots of emails filled with thoughts, questions, and comments. I am going to try and post a couple of these today as I begin to catch up with BTB corespondenc. -Joshua Titus

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 06:04 PM |

Our Frontier
March 04, 2009

Ballantyne has great adventures as the west was opening in Canada and the United States. Do you think that standing for being a man of morals and Christianity is our frontier? We need to be brave and strong to stand up against all that is around us and trying to attack us. We don't fight Indians and starvation, but we fight all kinds of things. I was curious what your thoughts were. -Landon S.

Dear Landon,

Standing to be a man of morals and to be a true Christian is definitely one of our "modern frontiers." You are absolutely right. We don't have to prove ourselves by fighting badmen or bandits the way our ancestors did, because they cleared the path. But we can go on to live the life of adventurous and bold manhood by taking the same spirit and character that the pioneers did and applying it to our modern day. This reminds me of the quote by John Adams,

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."

Buadh no Bas, Joshua

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 06:44 PM |

Events of the day. . . historically
March 03, 2009

Just thought I would post a couple of interesting ways that today is tied to history.

On This Day:

Born:

<center>A.G. Bell</center>
A.G. Bell
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of a very useful little devise known as the telephone (1876), was born today in 1847 in Edinburgh! He was an audiologist and was granted 18 individual patents, and 12 with collaborators, over the course of his career.

Facts:

Modern-day American adventurer (I love that title!) Steve Fossett became the first person to do a complete nonstop circumnavigation of the globe, solo, AND without refueling. He landed in Kansas after more than 67 hours in flight today in 2005. Sadly, his plane crashed in 2007 on another adventure, and his death was confirmed in the fall of 2008.

On this day in 1934, an American bank-robber, John Dillinger made a "most daring escape" from the prison at Crown Point, Indiana. With only a razor and a piece of wood, Dillinger carved a fake pistol, painted it black with some bootblack, and forced his way past the prison guards to escape, while singing, "I'm heading for the last roundup." A naughty chap.


The image to the right is the "Defence of Fort McHenry", this poem would later become known as The Star-Spangled Banner. Today in 1931, by act of Congress, "The Star-Spangled Banner," written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, was officially adopted as the national anthem of the United States.

AgB, VoD, Joshua Titus

Posted by Joshua Phillips at 10:39 PM |