Rating: 
Summary: A work of pure genius
Review: Peter Matthiessen is one of the greatest living American writers, and perhaps one of the very best American writers of all time. This book is one example of why. The skill with which Matthiessen weaves his story is simply astonishing - the sense of place that one gets (the swamplands of early 20th Century southwest Florida) and the depth and realism of the characters themselves are incredible. The only way I would have liked this book more is if it was about twice as long.Be careful - when you read Matthiessen, you may find it hard to go back to reading more run-of-the-mill writers.
Rating: 
Summary: High Quality Page Turner
Review: This book proves there wasn't just a wild west, but a wild south. Matthiesen does an excellent job in portraying a region, its inhabitants, and one person who has a strong effect on both. The character of Watson is fascinating: dangerously violent (especially when drunk),yet capable of generosity and of fathering and providing for a family, aided by his entrepreneurial skills. He is, as one of the earlier settlers in the Everglades describes him, "accursed:" someone who is fated to bring trouble on himself wherever he goes. He may have killed Belle Starr in the Oklahoma Territory, and is the author of at least a few killings throughout the book. In using various voices to describe the man, Matthiessen underscores the subjectivity of experience, the importance of history and racial attitudes in a landscape over a two-decade period: from wilderness to exploitation then ultimate development.
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