David Marion Wilkinson

Oblivion stalks the Cherokee, and great men must rise and slay it at all costs.

Fascinating read! History brought vividly to life. The times, the settings, the people – wow! – the author did it all beautifully. In short, this is a story of courage – of Kah-nung-da-tla-geh, “The Man Who Walks the Mountaintops”, “Ridge Walker”, or “The Ridge”, chief of his clan, along with his son, John Ridge, and his nephew Elias Boudinot, both educated in the east.

Georgia was after the rich Cherokee land for their growing population. Jackson, placating Georgia to prevent it from uniting with South Carolina in civil war, chose to sacrifice the Cherokee nation.

Through every American president, the Cherokee had taken their advice: instituted elections and a government similar to the whites, sought education for their children as the whites did, became farmers, craftsmen, merchants and law men. “The Cherokee did everything we could. We exceeded all the American's expectations. We beat them in their own courts. Jackson let us play the game only because he hoped we'd lose it. Now that we've won, things will only get uglier.”

John and Elias, the first truly educated Cherokee, having come to manhood in the east, knowing how the whites think, and speaking both English and Cherokee, being asked to join the delegations to Washington, had a unique perspective on the politics of the time. They tried to convince Ridge that their lands were already stolen; it was just a matter of time before they were forced off. Better to go now. Choose the people over the land. A hard choice, since Cherokee revere their land. But the more The Ridge ponders their predicament, the firmer his realization that there is no alternative. This is the story of the Eastern Cherokee from 1776-1839, of the whites who took advantage of them, of some of their own with ulterior motives, and of these three courageous men who “chose the lesser of two unjust evils”. As The Ridge said, “The soil was never important. It's the Cherokee who are precious. The Ridge laid down his life to see his people endure.”

The only thing with which I found fault was that the story felt a little thin towards the end, even at 376 pages. Having read some of those documents, I found that some of the biggest indictments on the character of the principal chief, especially during the time of emigration, were not introduced into the story line. But even missing those, this was still a very compelling history of the times.

It seems unreal to me that the Cherokee still harbor ill will toward the one, through whose tough decisions, their nation was kept intact. Their website makes much of the chief who actually caused his people to have to march the Trail of Tears instead of taking the faster, easier water route, all in order to divert the government money intended for their transport to himself, and it has very little to say about Chief Ridge, who was actually the means to their nation enduring. The people of the nation that he saved still do not see the big picture. That is sad.… (altro)

In Not Between Brother author David Marion Wilkinson relates the epic story of Texas spanning the years from 1816 to 1861. Wilkinson uses the life story of his primary protagonist, Remy Fuqua, to tell the Anglo, Tejano, and to some extent the Mexican parts of the tale. On the other side, Wilkinson puts the reader into a virtual alternate universe by following the life a Comanche warrior named Kills White Bear. The lives of Remy and Kills White Bear become inextricably bound together through a series of unfortunate incidents that are mostly fueled by their mutual desire for vengeance. Indeed, the book closes with one final tragic encounter between them.

On the larger stage of history, Wilkinson's book tells the story of Texas (or Tejas) from its days as part of the Spanish colonial empire, through its Mexican statehood, its days as an independent republic, and its annexation to the United States. The book closes as secession fever strikes and the state legislature withdraws Texas from the Union over the objections of its governor, Sam Houston.

Fuqua wants to ranch and by hard work and fortuitous marriage achieves an extraordinary level of success. All the more bitter, then is his struggle against the Mexican government, The Texas Republic, and Confederate Texas to keep what he has built. The eternal struggle, however, is between the Comanche, especially the Penatekas led by Kills White Bear, and the Anglos and Tejanos. The Comanche fiercely defended their hunting grounds and with some degree of success on the sparsely settled Texas plains. Both sides fought viciously - it injury to the truth to romanticize it. In addition to their sheer numbers and technological advantages, the whites brought diseases that no amount of courage or tenacity could resist. On the whole, the Comanche chose to resist, seemingly beyond all reason, rather than submit.

Wilkinson sprinkles his tale with historical characters such as Sam Houston, Buffalo Hump, Santa Anna, Juan Seguin, Indian agent Robert Neighbors, and Captain Jack Hay of the Texas Rangers. Wilkinson also puts the reader in the midst of historic events such as the Alamo (necessarily told second-hand to Remy), the Battle of San Jacinto where Houston won his fame and Texas its independence, and the Council House Fight, where the army's ham-handed handling of treaty negotiations led to a massacre of Penateka chiefs and warriors, which in turn led to the slaughter of captive whites and touched off a major round of Comanche raids.

The one negative review of this book asserted that the author is no McMurtry or' Mitchner' (sic - presumably the reviewer meant James Michener) - a range of literary skills nearly as large as the Texas plains, in the eyes of this reader. Wilkinson does not reach the heights that McMurtry can, but exceeds Michener in developing real characters in an historical setting (as opposed to the rather simplistic characterizations in Michener's `Texas'.

Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction and the American West. The insights into the Comanche and Tejano side of the story set Wilkinson's book apart.… (altro)