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About the Author:
I live blocks from Lake Winnebago. Each day I cross the Fox River, and on most days I think little of it. But there are days when I look on that river and think of all the events that have happened along its route. I have tried to appreciate that history. I have canoed sections of the Fox, and driven along its banks. I have followed the voyageur route from the Sault to Quebec and traveled from Green Bay to New Orleans by car and by boat. My wife and I have spent many happy days on Mackinac Island and in Door County. I have tried to learn the land.
This book represents one way to view the land and the French period. I have attempted to be historically accurate with the descriptions of Washington and Marquette and Jolliet. But this is a novel, and I have filled in where there are blank spots in the record. And of course I have taken one huge liberty with history -- I left the French in charge of this land. I did not do so to disparage them, but to highlight just how important Washington's dream was. He is the father of our country in ways little appreciated. My hope is that by showing what might have happened, we might become more aware that history is the result of the work of people -- and history might well go in very different directions. Like the water at Portage, one drop goes to the North Atlantic, and another goes to the Gulf of Mexico. They are just inches apart at the beginning, but those initial inches product many miles of difference over time.
I intend other volumes in this series. There is more history to be gleaned along the banks of the Mississippi, additional chances to explore the French influences here, and yes, more chances to describe Elise. I have my Elise. I hope others have theirs.
Here is how the next volume begins:
Chapter One – Green Bay
The Canadian Civil War: Volume 1 - Birth of a Nation Page 18
