This is a pleasantly written study of rural life in Sangamon County, Abraham Lincoln's neck of the woods. Concentrating on the first half of the 19th century, Faragher skillfully interweaves social, economic, and cultural history into a whole that is local history at its best, but, because of multiple implications, is much more than the history of a locality. Using many sources, he covers Indian-white relations, the establishment of towns, childbearing patterns, changing family life, the move from a barter to a cash economy, the alteration of the landscape, and the vicissitudes of agriculture for farm owners, tenants, and employees.