Oblivion's Altar: A Novel of Courage

by David Marion Wilkinson

Book Overview

Based on historical events, this is the newest novel from the acclaimed author of The Empty Quarter and Not Between Brothers. When the white man arrived, it was the visionary leadership of the great Cherokee chieftain known as The Ridge that led his nation into the future--with a culture at once unique and adaptable to the Americans.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451205464
• ISBN13: 9780451205469
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: New American Library
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Educational and entertaining

This is historical fiction at its best, educating while entertaining. "Oblivion's Altar" is set in the early to mid 1800's and focuses on the great Cherokee chieftain whose anglocized name as Ridge. Like many Native American of his time he straddled the worlds and cultures of his ancestors and the burgeoning white world. It was inevitably a no-win situation but the courage and wisdom of Ridge (symbolic of many other Natives) are inspirational. Wilkinson's accomplishments are the blending of historical research with his own fertile imagination. Historical events are thus rendered in an excellent narrative rather than as dry scholarship. Characters are fused with realism, rather than seeming contrivances. History is often the story of how ordinary people deal with extraordinary circumstances. "Oblivion's Altar" is an excellent example of this.

Oblivion's Altar

These historical figures will haunt your memory for weeks after you have finished this book. David Wilkinson's abilities to craft a "soul" from words is unsurpassed by todays authors. In Oblivion's Altar, he tells a compelling story of the Cherokee people which will have even the toughest skinned reader hooked by the end of their first hour of reading. Once you've read this book, you will look at all History with a more critical and decerning eye. The virtues and vices of human nature are excellently displayed, and their resulting conflict, as one nation is born and another begins to die.

Amazing Resilience

I own and have read all of DMW's books. They just keep getting better--or else I just appreciate them more the more I read them. To me the author has the gift of empathy. Whether he sees the world through the eyes of an oil field worker imported from India, a Mexican at war with Texas, an Indian chief, the President of the United States or anyone of the other main or supporting characters who people his tales, I always get the feeling that it is the character speaking and not the author through the character. Big difference. Normally, as I read I go behind the character and see the author busily typing away replete with his/her biases. Not so with the books of David Marion Wilkinson. I get to see several sides of an issue, and I can honestly say that even the meanest character that he dreams up has a human side which does not allow me to dismiss him/her out of hand. In Oblivion's Altar, I see and understand President Jackson's position as well as that of the several chiefs who attempt to get the U.S. government to abide by law--peacefully and with war. It was so unavoidably sad--and just plain unavoidable--what happened to the Cherokee and the other tribes of Native Americans. When you read any of DMW's stories you get [taken] into the complexities of the human spirit and you rejoice, pity, get angry at and grieve with every character at some point or other. It's great to know the author is a young man with several great books in him--and I plan to read every one.

An Unforgettable Story

The writer of historical fiction is confronted with an exceedingly difficult task. If he is to succeed, he must reach not only those with an interest in the history of which he writes, but those to whom plot and character development are everything and history an afterthought. David Wilkinson has succeeded on a grand scale with his book. This superbly crafted story of the great Cherokee Nation and the forces which drove its people from their lands in the southeast along the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma brings to life one of the more sordid and shameful episodes in American History. Much has been written of this tragedy, but we seldom see the faces of its victims. Wilkinson has brought them to life for us in a way that is both fascinating and unforgettable. Probably as impressive an account of the Native American struggle as anything written since "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee."

The Struggle Continues

It was almost surreal reading this exceptional story of courage, frustration, dispair, hope and struggle. Although the events depicted in the book occurred some 200 years ago, they could easily be translated to recent times. I have met and seen the Kah-nung-da-tla-geb's of modern times. Proud people who are struggling to teach their children the old ways, yet realizing, as difficult it is to accept, that assimilation is a necessity to survive, to succeed. The Cherokee "exceeded all the Americans' expectations" in this regard and learned to use the "civilized ways" to their advantage, and it wasn't enough. In my little community, many have become educated, successful and assimilated, and, like long ago, it isn't enough. We are still considered "a thorn in their heel". This is a must read book for anyone who has struggled and dispaired, and who has loved family, heritage and country. I am not a "reader" but, like his previous book, NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS, I couldn't put it down. To David Marion Wilkinson, thanks - with respect and admiration.