I FINISHED THE ERIC FLINT BOOK that I mentioned a while back. It’s obviously the start of a series, but I thought it was quite good. The characters are three-dimensional, with virtues and vices displayed in all complexity — Flint doesn’t paint the Cherokees as traditional cardboard victims, but shows their flaws and doesn’t shy from the fact that many owned slaves. Andrew Jackson (whom I’ve never liked) appears as a rounded character, too, and Sam Houston is fun.

And with all the Scots-Irish talk (including the parallels between many of them and the Cherokees in terms of culture), I suspect that Flint has read James Webb, or more likely David Hackett Fischer.