About the Author

JOHN J. DUFFY is emeritus professor of English and the humanities, Vermont State Colleges. He is the editor of The Vermont Encyclopedia. (UPNE, 2003), and Ethan Allen and His Kin: Correspondence. 2 vols. (UPNE, 1998) and resides in Isle La Motte, VT. H. NICHOLAS MULLER III has served as president of Colby-Sawyer College and dean and professor of history at the University of Vermont. He is the editor of The Quotable Ethan Allen (Vermont Historical Society, 2005) and resides in Essex, NY.

Reviews

"What? Ethan Allen wasn't everything we've come to believe? Duffy and Muller make the eye-opening case that the Hero of Ticonderoga, the defender of the New Hampshire Grants, and the patriot whose name and image adorn ships, statues, highways, and stores is as much legend as fact. Great Jehovah!"--James H. Douglas, former governor of Vermont "Journal of American History"

"With solid research Duffy and Muller convince readers that many facts were lost in the fictional depiction of Allen. . . .This study contributes immensely to our understanding of the cult of the Vermont hero and heroes in general."-- "Journal of American History"

Now come two venerable historians with yet another portrait -- not just of the man in all his complexity, but of his evolving, grandiose reputation and how it served the purposes of the writers, their society, and the state that became invested in a conflation of history and legend. Inventing Ethan Allen, by John J. Duffy and Nicholas Muller III, published by the University of New England, takes a hard look at what is known about Ethan Allen, from the documentary record, and what was written speculatively about him. Ultimately, they argue, it was a 19th-century confection that elevated him to heroic, bigger-than-life status and that helped make him the namesake of everything from a furniture company to a think tank.-- "Burlington Free Press"

This is a good book overall, and should appeal to anyone interested in America's struggle for independence or Vermont history.--James H. Douglas, former governor of Vermont "H-Net"