Customer Reviews

Qualla: Home of the Middle Cherokee Settlements

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Mr. Middleton's first book, entitled "Qualla: Home of the Middle Cherokee Settlement," is a compilation of stories both passed on to him and inspired by his grandmother, Grandma Moriah, a half-blood Cherokee. "To my grandmother I am indebted for much inspiration, and many of the stories, sayings, myths and lore were hers." As in this book, as well as his others, Mr. Middleton has endeavored to capture time "lest it be forgotten." He has researched information pertaining to these particular Cherokees, and interwoven that research with tales and stories from this particular clan of the Cherokee People, believed to be from the Kituhwa settlement, and various sub-clans.

There are 24 chapters, which include tales of the Cherokee way of life, myths, legends, lore, as well as historical events relating to encounters with the white settlers, and the military. The book primarily spans the late 18th century, when the whites tried to eradicate the Cherokee by any means possible, and the first half of the 19th century, including the Trail of Tears, and includes some black and white photographs. This book was also part of the inspiration for his second book: "Flashbacks: Prisoner of War in the Philippines." Mr. Middleton miraculously survived the Bataan Death March/Camps and he writes: "I was not on the Trail of Tears, but was on the Bataan Death March during WWII. Those two marches must have had their similarities, so I feel a deep sympathy and understanding that most people could not feel at this point." Mr. Middleton survived over three and one half years of captivity, enduring hunger, disease, and torture by the Japanese, who considered surrender the lowest form of dishonor and cowardice, and therefore treated their captives as the lowest form of humanity imaginable. But that's another of his stories.

Mr. Middleton writes in a simple, straightforward, storytelling style of writing, which I find quite appropriate to the stories and tales within the book, owing much to the simplicity of the people themselves. It is not by any means meant to be much more than that, but a rare accounting of a race of people much intertwined with that of his own family.