ATLANTA, Jan. 30, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- In 1846, the concept of manifest destiny became official United States policy. They said, "Go West," and pioneers did, in wagons, cutting across the wilderness, snatching land from American Indians that led to bloody conflict. A new novel, Westward Wings the Hawk (now available through 1stBooks), by Joseph C. Bransby, is a detailed examination of the effects settlers had on the country through the eyes of a white man raised by American Indians.
Bransby explores the veins of discrimination, exploitation, deceit and violence that ran through the Wild West of the 1840s. Westward Wings the Hawk takes readers back in time to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the lands of the Ponca Indians in northeastern Nebraska. It is the story of a young white man who is caught between two opposing forces. As an infant survivor of a pioneer family who fell to a horrible fate, he is raised by a Ponca Indian couple, but later kidnapped by a group of trappers. Known as Buck Lamont in the white world and Little Fox to the Ponca Indians, the man is torn between the old world and the new order of settlers.
Buck is swept up in the events of the 1840s. Bransby portrays the spiritual and physical lives of both the Plains Indians and the white settlers who lived in the valley of the "Big Muddy" Missouri River. As Buck struggles with these conflicting worlds and finds answers through the love of two women.
Using history and prominent real life figures as a framework, Bransby explores the awful story of exploitation and violence that baptized this nation in blood in the exciting adventure novel, Westward Wings the Hawk.
A retired YMCA professional, Bransby is an avocational archaeologist and historian with special interest in Indian culture of North America. He's gone on a number of archaeological digs and is a World War II veteran and a former wrestling coach. He currently lives in Atlanta with his wife. Westward Wings the Hawk is his first novel.
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