I have copied below a review I wrote for Amazon.com for Robert Moss' THE FIREKEEPER.  This novel, plus two others, FIRE ALONG THE SKY and THE INTERPRETER, are marvelous explorations of the Mohawk Valley frontier in the 18th century. They are three of the most evocative novels, based on solid documentary research, of the world of Sir William Johnson, of the Six Nations in the period of Johnson's life, and of the struggles of the Palatine German settlements in their attempt to start a new life in a new land.   You may contact Mr. Moss at [log in to unmask]

REVIEW:

THE FIREKEEPER is "the dream" of Sir William Johnson., October 7, 1998
Reviewer: Wanda Burch  from Glen, New York
In the dry, often dull, pages of thousands of eighteenth century documents, the researcher and student of history meets--in his or her studies of upstate New York--the names of characters who shaped the cultural and geographic boundaries of the lands bordering and expanding beyond the Mohawk River into the thick forests of the eighteenth century western frontier. Principal among those names is that of Sir William Johnson and his intricately woven web of clients, agents, military personnel, merchants, commissaries, politicians, tenants, and tradesmen, all backdropped against the powerful confederacy of the Six Nations. In THE FIREKEEPER, Robert Moss plunges beneath the carefully penned words of conferences, negotiations, land deals, and the giving and receiving of thousands of belts and strings of wampum and chests of gifts to find the phrase, the inuendo, the pause, the missing sentence that allows one to grasp the beauty and power of the raw courage, stamina, and charisma of the men and women who were the real heroes of the New York frontier. William Johnson held the legal responsibility for the negotiation of Indian affairs for the Six Nations and proved the extraordinary confidence and credit in which he was held by the Six Nations in his care and use of the magnificent symbols of Indian power and authority--the belts, the sacred calumets, and the dreams. In the dreaming culture of the Six Nations, William Johnson was caught up in a delicate balance between the magical world of spirit and soul in which he donned the antlers of the forest stag and the competitive white world where wills and cultures clashed in battle and on paper.
Woven in and among the threads of the fascinating story of THE FIREKEEPER is the even more powerful story of the women in William Johnson's world--the young Palatine girl who pursued her dreams across the sea from bondage to the purchased freedom of a frontier pulsing with the clash of desire and spirit, of the fusing of the sacred and profane in a forest peopled with refugees from her own country and with the magical dreaming women of power of the Six Nations, of the Mohawks, women with names like Island Woman and Sparrow, all of whom would share in the romance and spirit of William Johnson's world, molded from the dreams of many cultures, a magical journey of spirit and soul brought to life by Robert Moss through the pages of THE FIREKEEPER. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

--Wanda Burch
Johnson Hall State Historic Site


-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Baker [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 10:22 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: NY STATE NOVELS


Folks--

I have been hired to teach a one-semester New York State history course at
the university level for this coming fall term.  In hopes of offering
students a variety of sources from which to work, I'm looking for teachable
novels about the state, but preferably ones that are not solely about New
York City.  Any suggestions?

Tom Baker
soon-to-be Assistant Professor of History, SUNY-Potsdam