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David Crockett was an adventurer, a pioneer, and a media-savvy national celebrity. In his short-but-distinguished lifetime, this charismatic frontiersman won three terms as a U.S. congressman and a presidential nomination. His 1834 memoir enjoyed frenzied sales and prompted the first-ever �official� book tour for its enormously popular author. Down-to-earth, heroic and independent to a fault, the real Crockett became lost in his own hype, and he�s been overshadowed by a larger-than-life, pop-culture character in a coonskin cap. Now, American Legend debunks the tall tales to reveal the fascinating truth of Crockett�s hardscrabble childhood, his near-death experiences, his unlikely rise to Congress, and the controversial last stand at the Alamo that mythologized him beyond recognition. In this beautifully written narrative, Crockett emerges as never before: a rugged individual, a true American original, and an enduring symbol of the Western frontier. �A great myth-busting story [that] presents Davy Crockett as a man of genius and folly, which has the unlikely effect of making him all the more heroic.��Martin Dugard, author of The Last Voyage of Columbus and Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone �As spellbinding and dramatic as any novel and as compelling as any reportage.��Peter Hoffer, Distinguished Research Professor of History, The University of Georgia (less)

David Crockett was an adventurer, a pioneer, and a media-savvy national celebrity. In his short-but-distinguished lifetime, this charismatic frontiersman won three terms as a U.S. congressman and a presidential nomination. His 1834 (…more)