PA born Trent was a lusty figure in the days of early westward movement in the mid 18th c., when anything beyond PA's Susquehanna River was considered the frontier. He was an Indian trader and diplomat, land speculator and in his earliest days was a soldier-of-fortune, enrolling in the militia to fight the French and the Indians. His life covered a wide range of early developments on the frontier. He was in an official capacity at the important councils at Logstown in 1752 and Easton in 1757.He was with Forbes, Bouquet and Washington as they blazed their way through the Western PA wilderness to the Forks of the Ohio, and later was in on the founding of Pittsburgh. Statesman, entrepeneur, adventurer, and just plain nomad are but just a few of the ways to sum up the life and times of this 18th c. figure! Hardback, 200 pp., $29.95.