Thomas Cresap's life serves as a primer on American history. He was at the forefront of the contentious border conflicts between the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and spearheaded American expansion into the Ohio Valley. His explorations of the frontier inadvertently helped start a chain of events that ultimately led to the French and Indian War, Pontiac's Rebellion, and the American Revolution. He served in the Maryland militia, the Ohio Company of Virginia, the Lower House of Maryland, the Committee of Observation, and the Sons of Liberty. Cresap's personal relationships with George Washington, Lord Baltimore, Colonial governors, British and American military officers, and many of the most influential men of his time helped shape the America in a way few did. However, despite all his well-intentioned contributions, Cresap was not held in high esteem by everyone. Known in Pennsylvania as "The Maryland Monster," by the Indians in Maryland as "Big Spoon," and by the British Army as "Rattlesnake Colonel," Thomas Cresap's life is a paradox. Regarded by Pennsylvanians as a quarrelsome and lawless villain, he reached almost folk hero status after moving to Western Maryland. In his ninety-three years, Cresap was many things, including a frontiersman, soldier, politician, trailblazer, ferryman, land speculator, Indian trader, surveyor, patriot, husband, and father. Drawn from Colonial records, newspapers, and correspondence, Rattlesnake Colonel details Thomas Cresap's rich life experiences and relates the story of the complicated conflicts of eighteenth century America in a personal and understandable way.

本作は、トーマス・クレサップの生涯を通じ、米建国期の混沌とした野心の本質を突く歴史叙事詩です。ある地では怪物、別の地では英雄と評された彼の多面性は、国家の黎明期における正義の揺らぎを象徴しています。史料に裏打ちされた緻密な描写により、一人の開拓者の足跡が巨大な戦争へと繋がる過程は、歴史の必然を感じさせる凄みに満ちています。 著者は膨大な記録から歴史の鼓動を抽出し、神話の裏側にある泥臭いリアリズムを暴き出しました。矛盾に満ちたクレサップの生は、現代アメリカが抱える光と影そのものです。この男の情熱を辿ることは、一つの国家が誕生する瞬間の凄まじい熱量を追体験する、極めて刺激的な読書体験となるでしょう。