Johnny Appleseed: Green Dreamer of the American Frontier by Paul M. Buhle

Johnny Appleseed: Green Dreamer of the American Frontier by Paul M. Buhle
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I really didn't like this much at all. It is an adult biography of John Chapman, more commonly known as "Johnny Appleseed". The book concentrates first on his theology and then moves on to his politics. He belonged to strange Christian sects and was even part of the Spiritualist movement. He loved the earth, lived in poverty, wanted to help the poor and believed in non-violence and rights for all. An all-around good guy, but all the crazy religion stuff is just weird and not something I could want anyone to aspire to. Same with politics. This book shows him as an early member of the tree-hugging, liberal, socialist, communist political theories and both he and all his political descendants such as Woodie Guthrie and Jack Kerouac are again certainly not something I would want to emulate. So from this book, I come to the conclusion that he was a weird, kooky religious fanatic socialist. Honestly, it totally bored me and I skipped the historical essay at the end. On the other hand, the art is very good. Stylistically it is very similar to Rick Geary with the crosshatching and intricate patterns in the backgrounds.