A Splendid Country: A Tale of the American Frontier

At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Anthony and Rebekah Cumings brave the danger-infested Ohio Valley in search of a western Eden. There they encounter the mystic David Singletary and join the proclaimed paradise . . . only to discover a growing dark side. Their sons and daughters become enmeshed in the Burr Conspiracy, the opening of the western waters to steamboat traffic, the War of 1812 and, finally, the Anglo colonization of Texas and its bloody aftermath.

The growth of a nation -- with its defeats and victories, tragedies, and triumphs -- is reflected in one family's saga. Experience with them, at almost a break-neck pace, earthquake, hurricane and flood, high virtue and inhumanity, heroism and treachery. This is essentially a true story that could have happened only in America.

T. Austin Cumings is a sixth-generation Texas whose family's experience provided the core of this, hist first novel. Cumins, a career journalist now in public service, is a past president of The descendants of Austin's Old Three Hundred and of his local museum association. He and his wife Darlene, reside in Richmond, Texas.