The Children of First Man [Hardcover]

JAMES ALEXANDER Thom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 1994

Three hundred years before Columbus, a Welsh Prince named Madoc -- an invincible blond giant of a man -- crossed the Atlantic with a fleet of wooden boats to plant a colony in the paradise he called Iarghal. Four countless generations, Prince Madoc's blue-eyed descendants migrated along the great waterways of the primeval New World, mingling their blood, their legends, and their dreams with the native peoples. This is their story.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Eight centuries ago, Madoc, an illegitimate son of a mediocre Welsh king, may have led ten boatloads of his countrymen across the Atlantic and settled them in the Tennessee and Ohio River valleys. Thom's multigenerational historical novel skillfully enlarges the scant evidence for this legend. Madoc's Welsh build a benevolent colony (complete with castles), die by hubris, and repeat their history, always as nastier people with shoddier castles, until their decline (as Thom sees it) into an illiterate but not unspiritual people. Though generally sensitive to Native American culture, he hits some patronizing notes in rendering the interior monologs of some Indian characters. Also, reader interest may wane with the endless succession of protagonists that such a time span inevitably produces-Thom's most fleshed-out character dies with 700 years and more than half the book still to go. However, the passages on medieval sea-faring and smallpox epidemics are quite riveting. Recommended for public libraries.
Scott H. Silverman, Bryn Mawr Coll. Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A highly imaginative novel that combines an old legend with historical fact to create an epic tale of America starting some 300 years before Columbus arrived. Thom uses a long-discussed legend of Welshmen who traveled to the far-off land of Iarghal (the North American continent) during the twelfth century A.D. Here, despite overwhelming odds, Welsh chieftain Madoc builds a society by interbreeding his people with the local native tribes. The book then skips ahead in 70- to 80-year increments, describing the eventual assimilation and northern migration of the tribal descendants, recognizable as Welsh by their facial features and blond hair. All this is bookended by researcher George Catlin, a portrait artist who befriends the tribe, now called the Mandans, in the mid-nineteenth century. There are epic battles among the Welsh and the Native Americans and between the tribes themselves, as well as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and diseases; the sex is bawdy and the violence is unrelentingly bloody, but the individual human spirit shines through. Thom's use of the language is masterful, with early chapters featuring Madoc by using flowery, age-of-chivalry prose; later, the tales of the evolving Native American tribes are told in simple, almost childlike sentences that reflect their primitive but proud nature. Finally, the appearance of later explorers like DeSoto and Lewis and Clark is done in traditional style. A terrifically entertaining novel, particularly in dealing with the advance of white society from the Native American viewpoint. Joe Collins

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 547 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (June 14, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345370058
• ISBN-13: 978-0345370051
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Alexander Thom is the author of Follow the River, Long Knife, From Sea to Shining Sea, Panther in the Sky (for which he won the prestigious Western Writers of America Spur Award for best historical novel), Sign-Talker, The Children of First Man, and The Red Heart.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Provocative, but sometimes overly disturbing, June 4, 2000

By 

absent_minded_prof (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Children of First Man (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a very intriguing treatment of a story that most Americans no longer remember. The tale of Prince Madoc, who supposedly came over to Alabama from Wales in the same year as the events described in T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral", (1170 A.D.), has had its zealous believers, as well as its detractors, since the days of Elizabeth I. In this book, Thom asks the science-fictional question of "what if" a.) this legend were in fact true, and b.) how did the descendants of Madocs colonists fare? It is always thought-provoking, always interesting. There is one very disturbing scene, which essentially details a rape. I would advise women and younger readers, and sensitive people in general, to try to be prepared for this, and perhaps to gloss over it altogether. It does serve to illustrate the brutality of life in certain societies, but was a bit excessive for me. The author obviously felt it was necessary, but I am not sure I totally agree.

Apart from that, there is a lot to be said for this book. The whole idea is, for some people, inherently fascinating. This novel covers a span of many centuries, in a way that works well for me. You see the medieval Welsh people at one point, then a chapter or two later you see them as increasingly illiterate people with fewer and fewer remnants of their religion, language, memories of Europe, etc. It is heart-breaking, but at the same time you do feel for the descendants of the original colonists, who must survive in a harsh world, and who have little time for remembering amenities. The battle scenes with the Cherokee, Sioux, etc. are exciting, I should say, but this is not a book about war as such. It is a very thoughtful overview of an intriguing idea, and I must say that there is a LOT of attention paid to the ways of real native americans. Rituals, customs, crafts, etc. are all gone into with the eye of an anthropologist. I read somewhere that Thom is related, by blood or marriage, I don't remember, to at least one native american tribe, and the sympathy engendered by this tie, tempered by a realism which many writers on these peoples do not display, shines through on every page.

Some other books I recommend on related topics include "Hidden Cities" by Roger Kennedy; the children's book "A Swiftly Tilting Planet", by Madeleine L'Engle; "Sacajawea" by Anna Lee Waldo; or especially "Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians : Written During Eight Years' Travel Among Them, 1832-1839" by George Catlin. Or, if you go to yahoo.com, google.com, hotbot.com, or whatever search engine you prefer, try searching for "madoc and mandan", using Boolean operators, and you should find a few dozen websites dealing with this fascinating legend.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful research and writing, November 5, 2002

By 

Susie Rigsby "([e-mail])" (Eldorado, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Children of First Man (Mass Market Paperback)

I've always thought if the first chapter of a book didn't grab my attention, then it wasn't worth my time. This book was assigned for reading by the moderator of my library book review group. At first I was really disappointed because the last book had been a real bummer. I read the first chapter and thought I had another bummer. But I was determined to finish the whole book come [any obstacle]. So I made myself start reading again. Well, was I ever in for a surprise.
The Prologue begins in 1838 with George Catlin, the artist, who had been allowed to paint the People of the Mandan tribe, to include the greatest Indian Chief of all, Four Bears. Then Chapter One begins in the summer of 1169, when a Welsh yellow-haired prince named Madoc, and his brother, have sailed toward the new land. From this point on until the end of Chapter Eight, the author writes about Madoc's trials and tribulations with the natives after arriving in this new land.
Chapters Nine through Seventeen pretty much tells how the "marked drawings" of Madoc, later desribed as the "Magic Bundle" are handed down through the generations for safe-keeping.
From Chapter Eighteen on, this author had my complete attention. I could NOT put the book down because my ancestors are Cherokee.
Although there were times I felt the author was drawing the book out over too long of a time frame, it wasn't until I finished reading the book that I realized how well written and researched this book had been.
The last few chapters had me in tears. Although written as a work of fiction, in my heart I could very well imagine this story to be as true as any nonfiction book I've ever read.
I have nothing but the highest respect and admiration for this author, James Alexander Thom. May the Great Spirit be with him, guiding his thoughts and his hand as he embarks on his next novel. I'll be waiting to read it.
My opinion of this book? It's one of the best written books I've had the pleasure to read.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Read, June 21, 2000

By 

Renee Prendergast (Arlington, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Children of First Man (Mass Market Paperback)

Amazingly, I felt transferred into this wild wilderness, battling all of the various elements of danger contained within the world of the ragged travellers. This is the story of a Welsh prince of antiquity that leaves his embattled homeland to hopefully build another kingdom in paradise. The scenes on the ocean voyage are particularly exciting, as are the various encounters with the native peoples he and his fellow journeyers encounter. I found the novel entirely engrossing.Before devouring this book, I had never read any of Thom's other novels. I went on to read most of his other works in rapid succession. He brings the history of native America into sharper focus.