click to enlarge
Title: Thunder From The Mountains
A Historical Novel of the Wabenaki Indian Nation
Author: Dr. Edward Martin
Foreword by Terry Martin
Price: $29.95
Contact us to buy it
| Reviews:
Lewiston Sun-Journal Weds 4/20
'Thunder'
Rolls Into Print
By Eileen M. Adams, Staff Writer
(As seen in the
Lewiston Sun-Journal)
Published: April 20, 2005
RUMFORD - Terry
Martin has fulfilled her promise.
Writing a 432-page book took Dr. Edward
Martin more than 25 years, and he didn't live to see it in print. He died in June
2001 from prostate cancer.
His widow promised that she would get it published.
And she has.
The historical novel chronicling Maine Wabenaki Indians in
the 17th and early 18th centuries was a labor of love for Dr. Martin, a Mexico
native who returned to his home area to practice medicine after graduating from
medical school in Vermont.
He was also a local environmentalist with concerns
about the chemicals dumped in the Androscoggin River by paper companies. He started
"Thunder from the Mountains" when he was researching the pollution and toxic contaminants
in the river in the 1960s.
An abundance of salmon
"His grandfather
had told him stories of the salmon that once ran in the reflection pool of the
river," said Terry Martin. "It occurred to him that it must have been wonderful
for the Indians to go to the reflection pool and spear fish."
When Dr.
Martin was growing up in the area in the 1940s and 1950s, the river was severely
polluted.
The book, with minute geographical detail, tells of an Indian
nation that was virtually wiped out by white settlers in the early 18th century,
by using a fictitious Indian family, said Terry Martin.
"The places are
real and the history is real. There's just fictitious characters," she said.
Dr.
Martin saw many parallels to his own life and his Acadian ancestors, with the
Wabenaki Indians and the pollution in the river.
In her forward, Terry
Martin writes: "It was the English colonials who cheated them, both of land and
heritage. That discovery changed his life forever."
He also believed that
toxins dumped in the river were the cause of many illnesses he saw in his patients,
and a critical cause of his own cancer, she said.
Finally completed
She
said he "finished" the historical novel many times, finally completing it about
six months before his death.
She said it took an enormous amount of energy
and money to get the 1,000 copies printed. With its abundance of historical detail,
she hopes it will become a part of American Indian studies, and go beyond a book
and perhaps be made into a Maine historical film.
"It's a history that
has not been done," she said.
Her son, Barney, is looking into that aspect
right now.
Meanwhile, she said Gov. John Baldacci plans to recognize the
book in a couple of weeks, and she is distributing it to local bookstores, libraries
and schools. The book may also be purchased online at dallashillantiques.com,
where it is listed under the link to "Products."
"This book is a tribute
to him. For 25 years he was writing this book. I didn't want people to forget
he did write this book," said Terry Martin.
"I am a link that binds
The
future with the past.
A bridge that spans the void
Between the living and
the dead.
I am a link that keeps
The family chain intact,
Between my
children,
And those who've gone before.
Proudly I pass the torch to them
And
proudly I say.
I am a link, you be one too."
- Ed Martin, in the About
the Author section of "Thunder from the Mountains"
< back to top |
