A Sorrow In Our Heart by Allan Eckert

Wow, this is quite the tome!  It's always a constant surprise to me when I meet someone who hasn't heard of Tecumseh.  Being raised in Ohio, it was a name we learned early on in history (there was even a wonderful outdoor theatre program about him in Chillicothe).  Because his is a tale that comes from the other side of history, it's one that should be told, and this book goes above and beyond to bring the research for it.

Tecumseh was born under auspicious signs.  It was clear that from birth he would be a great leader.  Showing an aptitude for strategy and diplomacy from an early age, he rose through the ranks of the Shawnee quickly and was instrumental in joining the different tribes together to oppose the encroachment of the European/American settlers in Native American land.

This is historical fiction.  So while it is about real people, I can't say that everything in here happened as the author described it.  He of course took liberties with the characters personalities and conversation.  Was Tecumseh really so noble in all of his thoughts and actions?  We assume so because his history is documented and we have some of his letters.  But everyone has their flaws.  That being said the way he was presented here was very much positive and probably very close to the truth.  The information presented about his family was new to me.  I never realized what important roles they possessed in their community as well and how much support that he had in his endeavors.

This is a long book.  The book itself over a thousand pages, and the actual story over eight hundred.  It is so long because of all the footnotes and bibliography included at the end.  So you can tell that the author did some research before writing this biography.  Because the book is so big it moves at a very slow pace.  After awhile I found myself skimming as I didn't care about all the little military nuances and battle plans that were being described.   A history or military buff would probably be very interested in those sections though.  I preferred the conversations and descriptions of the land, of which there were plenty of chapters about too. 

Lots of information about a remarkable man.  If you've ever been curious about the history of Tecumseh, I'd say this is a good place to start.

A Sorrow in Our Heart
Copyright 1992
1068 pages

Tecumseh by Paul Joseph Lederer

I like exploring different aspects of our history in this country. And in particular I've always been intrigued with the story of Tecumseh. This was a telling of the Tecumseh story, but widely different than anything I had ever read before. And to be honest, I didn't really like it.

Tecumseh was born under the prophecy of a shooting star. He was born to be a Warrior, and with the Americans encroaching further and further into their territory, an inevitable war breaks out. Tecumseh's first thought is war, but between his wife, true love, and a slave who worships him, he also has his hands pretty full with women too. As the years pass, he becomes more desperate to regain what used to belong to his tribe.

Tecumseh was a pretty flat character. Aside from his quick love for Elizabeth, the English woman he meets by chance, he doesn't really seem to care about much but the war that is raging on. Even his son by his wife he doesn't really express interest in. Elizabeth herself is such a weird character and I really didn't see what value she added to the story. The same with all of the women in Tecumseh's life really, with maybe the exception of the wife as she provided some antagonism.

The plot contained some historical accuracies. Some of the main battles were mentioned that Tecumseh was part of. And some real people were also included. But the main part of this book was pure fabrication. It kind of hurt to read actually. Especially all of Tecumseh's love interests. While I'm sure the guy probably slept around a little bit I doubt it happened in the way this book described. It just seemed too implausible. There was also a bit of descriptive sex in this book, which doesn't bother me, but wasn't something I was expecting in this type of book. And there were some gory descriptions of war as well. So you have been warned if you don't care for these types of things.

Not that historically accurate, flat characters, and just in general a read I wouldn't recommend, this book is one that makes me think I'll pass on any others by Lederer.

Tecumseh
Copyright 1982
298 pages