An alternately riveting, enlightening, and fascinating account of two largely forgotten figures of the American 19th century. This is the sort of new or newish nonfiction that I really enjoy, where the author relies on both traditional and previously un- or under-utilized sources to draw attention to a slice of history that has fallen through the cracks. I found the author's writing style effectively wove adventure story, character background, and the larger context together, and disagree with assessments of it as dry and academic. (If this was dry or academic to you, I envy you the texts you got to read in your education.) While fairly dense and crammed with information, this, in my opinion, is among the most interesting and engrossing nonfiction you can find.