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The Shawangunk (pronounced Shon-gum) refers to a mountainous region of Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan counties, New York, overlooking the mountains of New Jersey on the south, the Housatonic Mountains of Connecticut to the east, the Berkshire and Green mountains to the northeast, the Helderbergh Mountains to the north, the Catskill and Shandaken ranges on the northwest, and the Neversink mountains on the west. From the mid-17th to the early 19th century, the Shawangunk, an area both beautiful and fabled, was the scene of often bitter conflict between settlers (first the Dutch and later the British) and the indigenous population, which consisted principally of the Delaware, the Esopus, and the Mohawk.

Philip Smith's Legends of the Shawangunk, which follows the tradition of frontier literature penned after the American Civil War, recounts in words and lovely lined drawings the area's most famous episodes. Much of the action takes place just before and during the American Revolution, when Loyalists and their Indian allies sought to restrict the advance of new settlement. For example, there are chapters about the Battle of Minisink in 1779; attacks perpetrated by the Mohawk warrior, Col. Joseph Brant; and the exploits of Tom Quick, the Indian slayer. Other chapters focus on daily life throughout the Shawangunk, including hunting for bears, the establishment of communities such as New Paltz and Port Jervis, and profiles of early British settlers. Written in an expressive style, this book is bound to please anyone with a fascination for life along the colonial frontier or a historical or genealogical interest in south central New York State.