English’s Andy Doolen publishes new book “Traitor” | University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

By Francis Von Mann

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 9, 2026) — University of Kentucky professor Andy Doolen has published a new biography examining the life, ideas and assassination of early American figure John Dunn Hunter.

“Traitor: The Life and Assassination of John Dunn Hunter, American Radical,” is by Andy Doolen and published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Andy Doolen, professor of English and American studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of “Traitor: The Life and Assassination of John Dunn Hunter, American Radical,” published Dec. 2, 2025, by Johns Hopkins University Press.

John Dunn Hunter was many things: a frontier hero, a writer, a celebrity at home and abroad, and, ultimately, the victim of a deadly conspiracy. Born to white parents in 1800, he was captured as a young child by the Kickapoo and later raised by the Kansa and then the Osage. As a young man, he left his Osage family and crossed the Mississippi into the United States. Often called the “white Indian,” Hunter became an advocate of Indigenous sovereignty amidst western expansion and Native removal.

Hunter published his life story and held court with esteemed figures of his day, such as Presidents Jefferson and Madison. However, officials in the War Department accused him of being an imposter and the author of a hoax. Hunter never had the chance to defend himself. He was assassinated in 1827 during the Fredonian Rebellion in Texas, where he was involved in a pan-Indian movement for sovereignty.

Was Hunter’s story true? Doolen’s biography began as an effort to solve the mystery.

“Ultimately, I was able to write a biography that demonstrates Hunter was exactly who he claimed to be — an adopted son of the Native peoples who raised him and cared for him,” Doolen said.

Kirkus Reviews praised the biography as “a skillfully spun tale of a man forgotten by history, whose story deserves to be known.”

Andy Doolen, professor of English and American Studies at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, standing against a plain gray background. — Andy Doolen is a professor of English and American studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at University of Kentucky.

Doolen is a leading scholar of U.S. literature, culture and empire. His previous books include “Territories of Empire: U.S. Writing from the Louisiana Purchase to Mexican Independence” and “Fugitive Empire: Locating Early American Imperialism.” His work has appeared in journals such as American Literature, Journal of American History and Early American Literature.