A history of the Trace from the Natchez Indians to pre-Civil war. A collection of tied together historical tales involving some of the more famous and colorful events and people who made the trail the landmark it still is today. ( )

This is history for a popular audience, apparently aimed at tourists on what was then (in 1962) the recently opened Natchez Trace Parkway. The prose is expressive and meant to be entertaining, and for this reason the author takes liberties with the historical facts about the early Natchez Trace. Chapters are mostly organized around an individual, such as Aaron Burr, Meriwether Lewis (shot to death at an inn on the Trace), and the bandit Joseph Thompson Hare. There are no footnotes or bibliography, so the reader is obliged to take the author's word for everything. Daniels has a taste for the lurid. Here and there he evinces a dated concern with "blood" and color. ( )

This had to be quite possibly the worst history book I have ever had the displeasure to read. I have come back to it a couple different times thinking perhaps it is just my mood, and not the book. After the third time, it is the book. The writing style is clunky, and does not meet current standards for professional historical writings. If you desire more information about the Mississippi/Natchez area, there are better works out there. Heck, the internet may be a better source than this work! ( )