If one man could be said to exemplify in his character the promise of America's greatness, that man was Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania frontiersman of the Colonial period. This biography of one of the key figures in our national history reveals a personality of almost legendary nobility and charm, whose democratic principles actually helped shape the United States of America. A man of many talents and interests--farmer, soldier, churchman, political leader, father of a large family--Weiser is significant chiefly as the great champion and friend of the Indians of the Six Nations during the fateful early days of the country. Servicing as official interpreter and mediator between them and the English authorities, he brought harmony between the two factions time and again. He was responsible for keeping the important Iroquois tribes neutral during the French and Indian War.

Paul Anthony Wilson Wallace, Ph.D., was a Canadian ethnographer who focused on the natives of Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada as well as the Pennsylvania German culture. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto but emigrated to the United States to teach English literature at Lebanon Valley College. There, he developed an interest in the native people and regional history. He wrote extensively about native culture and the trails via which they traded and communicated. While doing so, he was introduced to the story of Conrad Weiser and the Pennsylvania German culture. Wallace's biography of Weiser is viewed by many as the most accepted and widely cited.