Greetings All:
This is our first blog, and, like all things tackled as firsts, there have been a few teething problems. We have finally managed to work most of the bugs out, and invite your comments on our posts. With a few exceptions, most of the incoming comments have been spam. What’s with these people? Why would we want to post an insurance or loan ad on our website?
In a recent post we introduced our new spin-off series on European contact with North America. The idea is that while the original PEOPLE series will continue as always, depicting North America’s pre-contact cultural heritage, we will also write about the arrival of the Europeans from the Native perspective. The first books will center on the de Soto expedition and the conflicts that it engendered among the Native Peoples. Contact books have been written before, but always from the European perspective. Think of John Smith and Pocohantis. We’ve always enjoyed poking holes in long accepted myths, and the de Soto you’ll find in the first contact book is going to be very different than the one taught in schools. The perspective of many modern American Indians is that de Soto marks the beginning of a “five-hundred year resistance.” What are your thoughts on the subject? We’re looking for a thoughtful and cogent discussion, but please, no profanity.
All the best,
Mike and Kathy
7 thoughts on “Battle for America”
September 25, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Dear Mike and Kathy:
I wanted to reply to your posts and add a comment or two of my own.
First: You are doing an excellent job on the website and the blog — so fears aside – it’s only Monday. :)
Second: I only discovered you books recently, but I am simply astounded by them. I love the characters and most definitely the way the two of you pull together your talents into writing them. I find your writing to be dense and lush and strangely familiar to my psyche. I can only imagine that it’s the same familiar feeling a rose has when touched by morning dew. How do you arrive at such descriptive, beautiful paragraphs?
I will have to consider any thoughtful response to the spin-off series. I can offer my personal note to it: I once began completing a genealogy map of my family. My father side European. My mother’s side: Native American. What was interesting was that my mother often talked about her heritage, but locating records was an ordeal, at least from the conventional standpoint. I was never able to determine if my ancestry consisted of Cherokee or Iriquois. I only remember one story my mother was so fond of telling: Her great-grandfather was a full-blooded Native American (she referred to his as a Black Foot, but I could’t confirm that). She often stated that you always knew when he was angry with you, because you would awake in the morning to find that he had spent the night digging a large grave in the front of your dwelling. Apparently, the thought behind an action said enough, though I am happy to report, I do not know that he ever followed through with the implied outcome.
September 25, 2008 at 7:10 pm
YEAH!!
I have been trying to comment here since you first started this blog.. and it finally works.
Just wanted to say that my husband and I have read each and every one of your books. Your writing is fantastic. I currently have People of the Weeping Eye from the Library, and I can’t wait for the next book to come out.
From one Wyomimgite to another.. keep up the wonderful work..
October 7, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Dear Mike and Kathy ,
Your books are great and so giving . I really enjoy them all. I read the people of series all the time they are my favorite books . You folks have become 1 of my favorite Authors. I also enjoy Jean Auel series also. But my books are all paper backs , I don’t loan them out at all. I recommend them all the time . A friend reads them now too. We both are waiting for the 2 new books to come out . Please keep them coming , but remember to take time for you folks too. I am looking forward to your new books , all of them . Thank you for taking time to Share them with us all. I live in a little town in central Maine , it get pretty cold here at times and your books help of very chilly nights to pass the evenings away . Even my children like to hear about your books . Enjoyment you share with people who you have never met is a great gift you send to us all . Thank you very much . Sincerely , Robin Stevens from Maine
October 14, 2008 at 4:32 pm
this is really exciting i have been reading your books for well over 10 years now and truly i have enjoyed everyone so thankyou. I live in Australia so it takes a long time to get your books released over here but was lucky enough recently my sister travelled to the u.s and have just recieved the betrayal and people of the weeping eye so far very interesting. Thankyou again for providing such a wonderful way to learn about native peoples as io have said i have loved each book and have learnt so much from them. Yours truly maree p.s loving the blog am so glad we can comment now and the new site looks amazing
December 17, 2008 at 7:04 am
Hello guys I love your site, I just stumbled across it while researching the Sioux Pawnee conflicts.
I’ve heard about the Lakota Sioux’s “war of extermination” before against the Pawnee and other tribes I think you date to the 1820’s.
I was wondering where can I find further information on these events?
Both books and online references would be good.
Also have you considered maybe writing some short non-fiction articles about these events because most people, even those interested in the history of Indians and the West have absolutely no knowledge of these conflicts ever occurred.
Thanks and again I love your site!
January 6, 2009 at 9:53 am
The Gear’s,
My sister-in-law is an American Indian woman of the Ponca-Osage peoples. Her mother was Ponca, her father Osage. She was to be the last Ponca princess but as the story goes her grandmother refused to allow her to be tatooed. Years later my brother told me it was more than that. The family were strong Christians, and before she was made official princess she had to live and learn from the Snake People, that were shamans. That was not going to happen in grandmothers Christian world. Today, she and my brother are leaders in her reservation Methodist Church.
What I do appreciate is the wealth of cultural stories passed down to her from older tribal members regard her families shamanistic history. Some of them I have read in your books. I have also heard the same stories from an Oneida friend regarding their myths and legends that still persist today, chiefly the ‘hero twins’.
Mona, my sister-in-law cleared up some of the misinformation learned in school regard Euroean contact with our native culture. She has a painting her and my brother got in Florida that depicts a line of people standing on the ground as evidenced with trees behind them. The same people are also depicted lined up head down underneath the ground directly below the line above ground. The people above ground are depicted as clear and animated in their finery. The ones below ground are faded to near invisible. I asked her what it meant. She said the Hernando DeSoto and his men wiped out entire tribes of indigenous peoples of which the picture depicts a Florida tribe.
They have quite a few pictures of the sort that depict the American Indians relationship with the earth and earth forces of the supernatural. I know the impact the Europeans had on our indigenous population from Columbus through the end of the 20th century. One of the Indian Schools, Chillaco, where attempts were made to program the Indian culture out of our first residents was attempted and worked. A good school friend of mine in the succession of Ponca Chiefs, Wilkie Eagle has become notable nation wide in reintroducing some of the tribal tongues by way of computer software. He also has been instrumental in bringing back some of the ancient sports enjoyed by our Native Americans.
Howard R. Reed
hsreed209@yahoo.com
February 15, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I just finished The Betrayal, and I am very gratified to see that such close attention was paid to the historical aspects of the life of Jesus. I have read Robert Eisenman’s books on James, the brother of Jesus, and it is striking how much historical deviation has been made in teaching the origins of Christianity. Work such as yours, with the very appreciated footnotes, will have a very positive impact on a poorly taught aspect of Christianity. Perhaps there is some hope for clarity, after all. Thank you for your efforts.