The old American
The old American: a novel
by Ernest Hebert
Publisher: Hanover, NH : University Press of New England, c2000.
ISBN: 1584650737
DDC: 813.54
LCC: PS3558
Edition: (alk. paper)
Summary:
"Set in New England and Canada during the French and Indian Wars, The
Old American is driven by its complex, vividly imagined title
character, Caucus-Meteor. By turns shrewd and embittered, ambitious
and despairing, inspired and tormented, he is the self-styled "king"
of the remnants of the first native tribes that encountered the
English. Displaced and ravaged by disease, these refugees have been
forced to bargain for land in Canada on which to live. Having hired
himself out as interpreter to a raiding party of French and Iroquois,
Caucus-Meteor returns from New Hampshire the unexpected possessor of
a captive, Nathan Blake." "He decides to bring the Englishman to his
own village rather than sell him to the French. Ambivalent about his
former life, Blake gradually fits into the routine of Conissadawaga.
Meanwhile, Caucus-Meteor struggles to protect his people from the
rapacious French governor. Constantly plotting and maneuvering,
burdened by responsibility, the Old American exhibits cunning and
courage. A gifted linguist who was forbidden to learn to read or
write; a former slave who is now a king; a native leader who has seen
more of London and Paris than his English captive and knows more of
European politics than the French colonial administrators,
Caucus-Meteor is a brilliant, cantankerous, visionary figure whom
readers will long remember."--BOOK JACKET.
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