“A truly remarkable story . . . Marc Stevens has produced a fitting tribute to his father . . . who played a full part in the defeat of Nazi Germany.” —HistoryOfWar.org Peter Stevens was a German-Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi persecution as a teenager in 1933. He joined the RAF in 1939 and after eighteen months of pilot training he started flying bombing missions against his own country. He completed twenty-two missions before being shot down and taken prisoner by the Nazis in September 1941. To escape became his raison d’être and his great advantage was that he was in his native country. He was recaptured after each of his several escapes, but the Nazis never realized his true identity. He took part in the logistics and planning of several major breakouts, including The Great Escape, but was never successful in getting back to England. After liberation, when the true nature of his exploits came to light, he was awarded the Military Cross. He then served as a British spy at the beginning of the Cold War before emigrating to Canada to resume a normal life. This is the story of a heavily conflicted young man, alone in a world that is in the midst of destruction. He is afforded an opportunity to help his persecuted people to obtain a small measure of revenge. It is at once a sad yet uplifting tale of thankless and unheralded heroism. “This is a wartime career that would make any son proud, but Steven’s real triumph is in writing a biography that will satisfy the most discerning historian.” —National Defence Journal

In 1833, a young, lightning-scarred oak tree grows near a village of Potawatomi Indians, the Neshnabek. Here, Watseka and her family must fight to save themselves from the onslaught of white migration and disease in the Little Woods. But the mandates of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the atrocities of the Black Hawk War of 1832 serve to undermine the Neshnabek's bargaining position as they relinquish their legacy through the Treaty of Chicago and prepare for their removal to the west. That same venerable oak stands in twenty-first-century St. Charles, Illinois, and bears witness to violence, despair, and hope in the McCallum family's fight to surmount turmoil inflicted by the encroaching world. When her job is outsourced to Venezuela, Marilyn McCallum falls into clinical depression. Her husband, Lloyd, sinks into the compulsion of illegal sports betting after his profession is supplanted by a superabundance of Chinese engineers. But with adversaries and allies emerging from surprising places, the McCallums must come to quick terms with their new reality. The fate of these two culturally diverse families living in different eras of Illinois history merge in Little Woods, a gripping tale of globalization's disturbing effect on life in the present and the past that offers a sobering view of our future.

White Wolf--an elderly shaman and Wicasa--serves as his tribe's spiritual connection with the Grand Father. As shaman, he must prepare the way for his successor, who will be chosen through ancient rituals designed to reveal true character. As Wicasa, he can only wait for signs from the Great Spirit to know if one will replace him to lead the people in spirit during this trying time. While traveling homeward following a quest that had taken him far from his ancestral mountains, he receives a vision from the Grand Father telling him the name of the next Wicasa: Flaming Eagle, a name he does not recognize. He knows the four young men who are candidates to become shaman and must consider their achievements and character as they strive for manhood. Although plagued by emotions regarding the unknown, White Wolf strives to maintain balance with nature while honoring the traditions passed down through the ages as he prepares the way for the next generation of his tribe. Meanwhile, he and his tribe must deal with the ever-present terrorism of nearby savages as well as the foreboding specter of the future invaders. Set in the early history of native North Americans, this novel presents a complex view of a society in which White Wolf and Flaming Eagle must strive to be worthy of their people beyond their roles as warriors and providers.