Read this book when it was first released and have not been able to keep it out of my mind ever since, so I just finished reading it again. As a student of history, my greatest interest is in how the people lived and felt who shaped the events we call history. James F. Davis helped me to visualize how people lived and how they felt about the events they affected and that effected them. Especially impressive is his understanding of the mindsets of Yankees and Southerners and how this evolved as the State matured and grew. I give "Frontier Illinois" my highest unqualified recommendation.