Dear All:
We have just finished revisions on A SEARING WIND, the third book in the CONTACT: BATTLE FOR AMERICA series. With this third book we finish the series on Hernando de Soto’s invasion of North America. Given the mythology that has arisen around this monster and his exploits within what would become the United States, we hope that our readers will have a fuller understanding of pain and suffering he perpetrated upon the native peoples.
For those of you who have read COMING OF THE STORM and FIRE THE SKY, does knowing what monster de Soto was, and the sort of crimes he commited against the peoples of the Southeast make any difference?
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
10 thoughts on “Will Anyone Notice?”
August 15, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Thank you both for the wonderful books you write.
May you feel as blessed by your books as I do.
August 15, 2011 at 3:52 pm
I have read both books, and have a much better understanding of what the Europeans did to the native populations at the time. I had previous read a book called We Were Not Savages by Daniel N. Paul (http://www.danielnpaul.com/WeWereNotTheSavages-Mi'kmaqHistory.html), and was appalled by the history that has been twisted and construed and taught in our schools. I only hope and pray that someday the REAL history will reach the ears of our child and our children’s children. These atrocities cannot and should not be forgotten. Thank you for providing even more insight into this topic. I love everything either of you have ever written.
August 16, 2011 at 11:08 am
Ever since learning the little we did in grade school about the conquest of the Americas I have almost felt ashamed to be European. The atrocities so many people committed (and still do in some cases) has literally made me sick. I love everything Native American and it makes me extremely sad that there were so few left after the Europeans came to this land. I feel the same reverence for the Earth that so many characters in The People books do, and every day I hurt for the Earth as well. Since I was about eleven years old I have been almost obsessive about learning of the Earth, nature and the different peoples who love it as well. Since that age I took it upon myself to learn at least a little about the evils that were dumped on the Native Americans, and I hope that someday those same evils will be entirely gone from this planet. Your books have helped me grow and I will always cherish the well informed stories you have given us all.
August 21, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Any idea how many people he killed or displaced? How does he compare to Hitler? Did de Soto do any biological warfare (smallpox?) Have Humans made any progress since the time of de Soto? I think maybe just different ways to kill and main. Bad people are still out there.
August 23, 2011 at 10:32 am
I think it makes a difference. In my mind, the whole point of history, and the spinoff historical fiction that follows, is to learn from the past. Certainly, history has shown that we seldom are able to avoid past mistakes based on an understanding of historical events (numerous genocides since the holocaust prove that), but one can hope that we are incrementally moving in a positive direction and a better future. With issues around First Nations people, I think knowing the history is especially important. These cultures largely used oral traditions to tell their stories, and since many of them, and almost all of their languages were snuffed out during the ongoing process of colonization, I think bringing the full horror of their experiences to the forefront is a useful process, else we would not know it. It makes a difference because it helps people understand what happened, what it might have felt like, and why many modern First Nations communities are still in such an early state of recovery. Considering the huge amount of racism and prejudice regarding indigenous people around the planet, I think knowing the entirety of their stories, before, during, and after colonization is vitally important.
August 30, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Enjoying the books in this series.
On Facebook a lady in Australia was having difficulty finding your books here in Australia, I use Amazon.com to get the New ones and have already received notice about the latest one coming out in January or February.
What are your next books likely to be?
The publishers are asses, they should get you writing more and publishing more than one title a year if you are up to it.
Is it possible to obtain someplace the archaeoogical site reports, monographs etc. you both have published?
Any word on that book you had published in German being translated into English?
September 8, 2011 at 8:49 pm
Knowing actually makes me more ill inside than I already had been over how the native peoples were treated by white men coming to America. I didn’t know of the atrocities that De Soto, and other explorers, created in such detail. I wish that this was taught in history classes so it never happens again. My soul aches for the native americans. It does matter, at least to me, and I for one will teach my children.
September 9, 2011 at 4:57 am
I’m interested in Native American history, so I’m pretty familiar with the kind of war crimes comitted against Native peoples. What bothers me though, is the fact that a lot of people in our modern times seem to forget about these facts – or perhaps they just don’t know enough about that time in history. The “Indian” has sometimes become sort of a “fantasy figure”, without a history of his/her own; although we shouldn’t get hung up too much on the “they did/we did” matter (there’s enough of that going on in a.d. 2011), I think it’s very good that we know about that history – perhaps there are lessons to be learned fo our own time…
A question for Mike and Kathleen, if I may :) Will you ever write a novel about Fox Fire, son of Dancing Fox and Ice Fire, and hence half-brother of Wolf Dreamer and Raven Hunter? I liked his cameo’s in several of your novels, and the fact that he created the Wolf and Raven Bundles to balance Power.
Kind Regards, Roy (The Netherlands)
October 27, 2011 at 12:49 pm
I too was pretty familiar with the atrocities of De Soto and others of his kind. As a child I got into some pretty major trouble for starting a petition to end Colombus Day or at least chage the name to Murderer’s Day. I was in 3rd grade. :D Reading your books just brought it to life for me. “Seeing” it through your book was an incredible experience. I’ve re-read them twice now and am chomping at the bit for the next one. We all should be aware of, and teach our children about, the extreme cruelty and expansive superiority we humans are capable of showing. From De Soto to “Manifest Destiny” to slavery. These stories should told in their correct form with the correct facts. Thank you for doing it so beautifully!! :D
November 21, 2011 at 11:52 am
I was already somewhat familiar with DeSoto’s rampage before reading the first two Battle for America books, having read Warriors of the Sun, Knights of Spain; I grew up in Pensacola and went to graduate school in Tallahassee where I spent a lot of time at Mission San Luis de Apalache where they rebuilt a tchokofa. Yet, reading your series really brought my ancestral homeland to life. It disgusts me now that they honor the Spanish so much in Pensacola without saying anything about what they did to the Native peoples for hundreds of miles around. I especially love reading Fire the Sky, because of all the novels in your series, that one really makes the glory and majesty of Mississippian civilization come alive. I wish so much that I could just tell people that there were huge empires, walled cities, and sophisticated city-states all over the deep South until the Spanish came and waged war on us for almost a hundred years before the British even thought about showing up. I realize now that the Spanish literally destroyed the Mississippian civilization, almost erasing it. DeSoto was an absolute monster, and I think that schoolchildren should be taught to vilify him and Andrew Jackson as much as they do Hitler. You really have to give the Southeastern people credit; they fought five different invading European nations for three hundred years before being marched away to Oklahoma.