People of the Earth: A Novel of North America's Forgotten Past

This is the third book in the series of the first people of North America. The people of the Earth gathered and planted food besides hunting and killing their meat. They lived in"clans" and there were many wars between the clans. These people believed in the spirits, witches and "Dreamers" who were both good and bad. This book shows a struggle between two powerful Dreamers. One good and one evil. It was a struggle between the two and the good conquered the evil and went on to be called "The Mother Of The World". She had help from her husband who Dreamed also and helped support her in the fight with the evil Dreamer. The wolf was an important symbol of the times and through the fight the wolf helped the "Mother of the World" win her fight as well. Her husband helped ground her. He had Dreams which also helped her win the fight. These series of books about one of the first peoples of North America are so fantastic! I will read each one in the series and be able to picture how the first people of North America lived. It is a wonderful adventure for your mind. If you love almost forgotten history of the first men, these novels will fill you with awe. Written and studied by people who literally dug up our past.

The Gears have written two dozen or so novels set from the end of the Pleistocene glaciation 10,000 years ago up to the time just before the arrival of Europeans to North America (I should note that they have begun some new series set in the years when the first Europeans have reached North America, such as the Spanish in Florida). I find the novels highly entertaining, because I enjoy imagining what it must have been like for the people living pre-European contact.The Gears bring their knowledge of archaeology and history into each story, making it much more authentic than most novels about the "West" or in prehistorical times (think Clan of the Cave Bear). They also show the people not as vegetarian pacifist environmentalists, like many modern Native Americans and First Nations tribes portray themselves to be. No, these tribes fought wars, tortured prisoners, took slaves, and occasionally wrought environmental destruction.So, if you want a could read, well-written, inclusive of both male and female perspectives, and male and female protagonists of equal stature and worth and importance and evil and scheming and whatnot, enjoy learning something factual about these civilizations, and are tired of the worn-out detective/spy genre, these novels, and especially this one, are for you.

Once again we are taken back through time, to another era of climate change and the movement of whole peoples across the land. The life and death struggle to survive is always the focal point of the "First Americans" series. Once again Power forges a leader to lead the people along the path to new lands and a new life. If there is a degree of predictability in the "First Americans" series then it is easy to forgive. We are drawn into the struggle of a people who are tied to the land but are also constantly struggling to survive. War is not uncommon and the tribes have their great warriors and their disastrous defeats. We are drawn into the tale as we watch "ordinary" people live in peace among their own but then, through the forces unleashed, prove to be more than "ordinary". It takes a strong leader to bind them together and to lead them with vision. As tribes move south, away from starving lands to more fertile grounds, like a set of dominoes being knocked over, change becomes the way forward.I enjoyed this tale but am a little wary, as always, of the spirit world that is also conjured up. Our true heroes become like Shaolin monks, meditating and losing themselves in the One... and at times what is such an earthy tale, with its love for the land and those that live upon it, loses itself in fantasy.

Like

This book is very well written and organized. The characters are very real and their problems represent all of the concerns that humanity shares. The state of "different-ness" that plagues the main characters is an integral part of the action. It is that different-ness that binds the work to the hearts of readers. White Ash is a young woman who was stolen from her origional home when only a child. Bad Belly was born normal, but lost the use of one arm while still a child. White Ash is always treated with love by her foster parents.....indeed more loving and caring than her origional clan had been, But Bad Belly's life was a constant stream of insult, degradation and minimalization . How these two beautiful souls came to be together is worth the price of the book itself. However, this book offers so much more. The detailed discussions about these early Americans include how they lived, what they believed, what they ate, how they made tools. Most striking was the discriptive language used to explain the complicated religious beliefs of the various clans. Any history buff interested in prehistoric peoples will find this a great reading experience.

Purchased as a replacement for a damaged library book. Response was excellent and book was in excellent condition.

This was an enjoyable read but the author has set her mystery in a prehistoric era and has her characters behaving socially as Anglos. Her Native Americans are engaging in romantic activities familiar to us all. She did describe living quarters documented by science. Her descriptions of the area her drama is set in seem fairly accurate. That's really my only criticism of this book. Her characters are acting like White Anglo Saxon's in many respects but then she quite frankly states her book is a work of fiction. It's still an entaining book and I'll be downloading more to enjoy.

At school, I detested History, All those dry dates, battles and Kings and Queens, just data, data, data.There was no context, but here we learn about the social aspects. The way of life, the aspiratiions and the belief systems ( as best interpreted by archeologists today ) Wonderful tale, with great knowledge of the subject.

Wenn man die Bücher in der Reihenfolge liest, dann ergibt sich wirklich ein fortlaufendes Band. Dieser 4. Band der Reihe ist vielleicht noch etwas mystischer als seine Vorgänger (und Nachfahren..), aber durchaus glaubhaft und realistisch umgesetzt. Mit grosser Liebe zum Detail und zum historischen Hintergrund, mit grossem Ideenreichtum und Konsequenz. Manchmal vielleicht etwas absehbar, aber nicht in negativem Sinne. Ich habe mich sehr gut unterhalten und mit Spannung den Showdown der Geschichte gelesen.

Brilliant book ! Couldn't put it down ❤

Reading and enjoying

ftre visiting Vancouver wanted to know more about Native Americans