The true history of a legendary American folk hero
In the 1820s, a fellow named Sam Patch grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode
Island, working there (when he wasn't drinking) as a mill hand for one
of America's new textile companies. Sam made a name for himself one day
by jumping seventy feet into the tumultuous waters below Pawtucket
Falls. When in 1827 he repeated the stunt in Paterson, New Jersey,
another mill town, an even larger audience gathered to cheer on the
daredevil they would call the "Jersey Jumper." Inevitably, he went to
Niagara Falls, where in 1829 he jumped not once but twice in front of
thousands who had paid for a good view.
The distinguished social historian Paul E. Johnson gives this
deceptively simple story all its deserved richness, revealing in its
characters and social settings a virtual microcosm of Jacksonian
America. He also relates the real jumper to the mythic Sam Patch who
turned up as a daring moral hero in the works of Hawthorne and Melville,
in London plays and pantomimes, and in the spotlight with Davy
Crockett-a Sam Patch who became the namesake of Andrew Jackson's
favorite horse.
In his shrewd and powerful analysis, Johnson casts new light on aspects
of American society that we may have overlooked or underestimated. This
is innovative American history at its best.
