Bücher der Reihe Monuments of Grass

America emerges from the trauma of the Civil War to find itself convulsed by rapid and often violent social and political change. Millions of land-hungry emigrants from all over the world flock to claim a piece of the newly 'liberated' Indian territories.The prospect of overnight fortunes attracts a flood of gold miners, prospectors, con men, gamblers, and homesteaders to the booming territories as the railroads open up more and more of the frontier for settlement. The dispossessed and impoverished Native Americans are swept by messianic movements that promise the return of the vast buffalo herds.¿In the midst of this upheaval, Purchase McLennan fights to retain the family legacy-the great patriarchal rock now the target of an unscrupulous speculator. The forces of greed, desperation, bigotry and ambition collide in a shattering climax that ushers in the new century and a profoundly changed America.

A badly-wounded stranger awakens from a fever to find himself in a cabin being attended to by a mysterious Indian woman. He has no memory of who he is, or how he came to be there. He learns that he is in New France, Quebec and that he was shot in a hunting accident while wandering the nearby woods. He adopts the name Jacob and slowly rebuilds his life amid the religiously conservative society of New France. He becomes a successful businessman and falls in love. At the height of his prosperity, he is forced into bankruptcy and becomes a reluctant participant in New France's struggle for political autonomy. Following a violent mass protest, he is falsely imprisoned on a murder charge. Years pass before he is finally set free-having endured the loss of his beloved wife while still imprisoned. Embittered and grieving, he struggles to find purpose in a world to which he has become a stranger.