Story Origins: Conflicting Roots

A reader of my new novel Conflicting Roots asks for more explanation of the

book’s history. “Why did it take so long to complete? It’s hard for me to believe it took

fifty years.”

The cover of my latest historical fiction novel, Conflicting Roots. Available now!

Apparently, my explanation in the book’s

introduction is not adequate; but, even if I go over it again in more detail, she may still

be unable to accept my explanation. After all, what she is willing to believe is all up to

her. In some ways, her acceptance or lack thereof is what the novel is about.

In 1974 our country’s economy suffered because of an OPEC oil embargo which

more than tripled the cost of petroleum. I was fresh out of college and looking for a job for which I was qualified with my BA in English and a minor in history. In Boston such full-time positions were few and far between at that time. During the long search, my dad suggested that I do some volunteer work to increase experience and exposure. One day in the MA Unemployment Office I saw a flyer on the bulletin board for a Boston University student group organizing what became known as Boston American Indian Week. The goal of the program was to educate the public to the issues involved in well-publicized actions taken by the American Indian Movement (AIM). Alcatraz Prison in California was occupied, as was the office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC and the battle site of Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota. Many Americans did not understand the motives behind these actions.

My volunteer job was to record every public session on cassette tape and

then to transcribe each for future use in media and classrooms. One of these sessions,

promoted as a spiritual meeting, brought together four men who were leaders of native

nations and the Mayor of Boston on April 13,1974 to share messages the leaders had

for city residents. At the end of the week, I completed my work and passed in all the

transcriptions, keeping a copy of that session. One of the speakers was John Fire Lame

Deer, a Sioux medicine man to whom I was assigned as a city guide for two days. It was

he who inspired me to learn as much as I could about the knowledge being shared

during the week. He is the one to whom I have dedicated Conflicting Roots.

During the next six months, as my job search continued, I could be found

most days at the Boston Public Library, going through the old-fashioned card catalog to

find books and publications which were brought by librarians to “my seat” in the grand

reading room. In fact, I was there so often that when I returned on some days books

which had escaped my search would be piled for me, delivered by helpful librarians who

knew what I was doing. The research provided enough information about indigenous

history and culture to fill three file boxes with 3x5 cards. I also frequented bookstores all

over Massachusetts, collecting new and out-of-print publications. From all of this I

created what I called a novel: “Trading with Indians” which is the title of the final chapter

of Conflicting Roots. It really wasn’t a novel, but a collection of myths, tales, poems

and short fictions based on the terrors which happened in Massachusetts and Rhode

Island during King Philip’s War (1675-76). Such high percentages of both European and

Native Wampanoag populations were lost that some historians refer to it as the

bloodiest war to ever take place in North America.

During that same period, I was also writing articles for an alternative press

magazine in Boston. One piece was an interview with American poet Robert Bly (1926-

2021) and, not knowing what to do with my own creation, I decided to send it to him to

see what he thought. Months passed and finally when he got back to me with a mildly

favorable review, I’d already started a full-time job and had no time to do anything with

the manuscript but put it and Bly’s letter in a cardboard box with other treasures for later

use.

Flash forward to 2020, when my wife and I, house-bound like everyone

else, decided to thoroughly clean our Maine millhouse. Under the bed she spied a beat-

up old box. “That’s yours,” she said. “What’s in it?” I really couldn’t remember. After all, it

had moved with me unopened from house to house for nearly fifty years. When I

opened it, a wrinkled green folder sat on top, and in it was my forgotten, typed

manuscript. Flipping through it slowly, I remembered what it was that I had tried to do so

many years before. “Hey, this looks pretty good,” I said. “Maybe I could do something

with it after all.” She looked at me with a wry smile and commented “Bob, you’re already

seventy-three. If you want to do something with it, you better start now.”

So, Conflicting Roots is what I’ve done with it. My original card files were lost,

but I had the books and publications in my library. In fact, my interest in Native history

continued through those decades, and I had collected many more source materials over the years. Still, I had to go back and redo the research and it was so much easier this time. Not only did the internet make it possible to dig up my original data, but it gave my access to historical and cultural information that had grown exponentially. Positive views of indigenous peoples had been scarce in 1974, so, much of my original writing was tossed. Second time around, the sources were more balanced, providing me with a more accurate perspective which gave me more and better stories to tell about the messages Native Americans have always been trying to deliver to us and some of the reasons we have refused to believe them.