The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

While receiving some accolades, The Pioneers has also elicited sharp criticism. Reviewers praise David McCullough for bringing to light an important piece of American history. Given the critical role that Ohio played in the settlement of the west, McCullough makes a significant contribution to popular knowledge in telling the stories of its founding pioneers. Most people had never heard of Rufus Putnam, Samuel Hildreth, or the others who feature in this work, so McCullough brings their stories to the attention of a wide general audience.

Like in his earlier works, McCullough painstakingly researches the lives of the early pioneers. He provides an extensive bibliography that includes many primary sources, such as newspapers and letters from the time period, as well as secondary sources. To support his conclusions about the intellectual interests of the pioneers and their devotion to freedom, he uses their own words and/or those of their contemporaries, including obituaries upon their deaths. He analyzes the Northwest Ordinance to make the case for its monumental significance. In this sense, McCullough supports his argument with evidence and properly cites sources. It is a work of non-fiction, with no false details added to embellish the narrative.

However, McCullough’s work is criticized for assuming the perspective of the pioneers and therefore grossly understating the destruction done to Indigenous peoples in the course of western settlement. Historians chastise McCullough for referring to the Northwest in 1787 as a “wilderness” as though no people lived there. Worse still, he invokes negative stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, especially when quoting the pioneers. Without providing any context, he highlights atrocities committed by Indigenous tribes and alludes briefly to only one atrocity committed by the pioneers. Critics have impugned McCullough for failing to notice the similarity between the treatment of African Americans in the South and that of Indigenous peoples in the West. Nor does McCullough draw upon the work of feminist scholars who have written about the role of women in this time period. Some also complain that the historical figures are romanticized, with no complexity or nuance. According to such critics, Putnam, M. Cutler, E. Cutler, and Hildreth are depicted almost as saints, with some critics arguing that such rose-tinted representations further undermine the work’s credibility.

It is important to note that the book is not an academic one with peer review but is instead a work of popular history. Without the need for peer review, McCullough is not required to make the case that he is making a unique contribution to the literature on a given subject. More importantly, he is not obliged to review the literature that already exists on that subject and to place his findings in the context of that literature. An academic reviewer would require more consideration of other motivations, besides the desire to spread American ideals westward, that the pioneers had. For example, the Ohio Company was partly a venture in land speculation, which raises the question of how big of a role economic motivations played in the settlement of the Northwest Territory, especially given the wealth that the early settlers soon acquired. By relying on the written words of the pioneers themselves and obituaries—which are typically generous in their depiction of the deceased—McCullough chooses to accept their perspective on people and events instead of questioning them as a more academically minded work would have done. For these reasons, McCullough’s book has attracted a mixed critical reception, although it has met with commercial success.