“He tested his scales as carefully as Saint Peter is supposed to test his while weighing souls. James Albert Michener (FebruOctober 16, 1997) was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which are epic or historical novels, sweeping sagas covering the lives of many generations in a particular geographic locale and incorporating much historical fact into the story as well.

I loved Rufus the bull story, the beavers, the real origin of horses, and Nacho. I loved the themes, the pacing, the wealth of information. Originally published in 1974, it marries nonfiction accounts of the formation of the Midwest, geographically, population settlement, industry, and relationships with sweet, interesting, sometimes brutal tales of fictional characters so seamlessly integrated into what daily life may have been like in a fascinating, yet incredibly comprehensive historical novel.

Hearing about how it took years of volcanic ash to just drift its way over, the violent collision of tectonic plates, forming areas where mastodons and bison would eventually wander around, once a place where ocean deposited sediment as it peacefully filled the basin of land from melting glacier. The erosion, hoodoos, those top heavy rock formations that look like they could topple at any time. I started this one over summer, traveling through the mountains of Colorado, it was neat to hear to the commentary of the terrain while visually seeing granite rock layered like a tilted stack of pancakes with edges toward the sky. The whole family in tow and none of the luxuries of radio, audiobooks, podcasts, A/C or heating, readily available maps, petrol stations, ice chests, or favorite road trip snacks like Black Forest Gummy Bears, Cheetos, or a grande, hot, white chocolate mocha with 2.5 pumps of white chocolate, 1/2 pump of peppermint, with whipped cream- my go-to travel drink from Starbucks. In today’s world, it is so hard to imagine travel of the time. Easy to listen to and I liked his pronunciation of Arkansas. I listened to this one via audiobook narrated by Larry McKeever, who was just the perfect narrator for this series once again.

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