Писатель из Лансинга выпустил роман о последнем строителе курганов Великих озер

Trending LANSING -- "Nokee: The Last of the Great Lakes Mound Builders" (Mission Point Press, $22.95), by Stephen Rheaume follows Nokee, the last member of a mound-building culture, who embarks on a journey to preserve the memory of his ancestors and find an aging shaman. Rheaume is a descendant of the first European apothecary and farmer, Louis Hébert, of New France, the French colony covering from Newfoundland to the Canadian prairies to Hudson Bay and to the Gulf of Mexico. He said that despite his colonial heritage, he had a reason for writing the novel, which is set in 17th-century Michigan, from an Indigenous perspective. "These Indigenous people aren't being represented well by TV," Rheaume said. "I said I'm going to try to change that when I write this book and give them maybe a little more realistic picture of what it must have been like for them." The mound builders, Rheaume, who lives in Williamston, explained, constructed huge piles of earth to bury the dead and their possessions. Rheaume said the builders used baskets to move tons of earth to form mounds, which were up to 70 feet tall - an impressive feat. "You can only imagine what it would have taken to move hundreds of tons of dirt by hand and with little baskets, and they did it," Rheaume said. These mounds could be found throughout the Midwest, with many located in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio. Rheaume added that because he is not of Indigenous descent, it took a year of research and two years of writing and editing before the book was published. After the publication, Rheaume has received praise from members of the Indigenous community. "Very early on in writing this, I knew that I was going to have to go through an Indigenous reader before we could publish this," Rheaume said. "I have not received negative things. I joined a number of Indigenous websites just to make contact with individuals, and I have not received criticism yet, which really pleases me." Rheaume said he hopes readers will not only learn more about the history of the mounds and the mound builders, but also about respecting and preserving the sites and the ancestors buried there. "The theme of the story is that Nokee wants to keep the story of his ancestors alive and wants to protect the mountains," Rheaume said. "So, the theme with 'Nokee' was, how can we protect these sites? These are very special to us. These are sacred sites. That was Nokee's whole point, to know about the people, understand it." Joshua Kim writes for Great Lakes Echo.