The story begins with a catastrophe -- as the continent of Africa rams into North America, thrusting up the Appalachian Mountains, off which runs the Clinch River . . . which carves a valley so rich and bountiful that it is fought over by (get this!) paleo-Indians, 'Xulan Empire' Indians, Cherokee, Shawnee, Mingo, Spanish Conquistadors, English explorers, Long-hunters, pioneers, French trappers, British Colonists, Tories, Patriots. . . . Wars are fought for possession of the Clinch Valley by Xulans vs. Conquistadors; Cherokee vs. Shawnee; Shawnee & Cherokee warriors vs. Virginia militiamen; French & Indian fighters vs. the British; Native Americans vs. settlers; Redcoats vs. Overmountainmen . . . . The book ends with the (so-called) civilization of the valley, marked by President Andrew Jackson's decree to round up every Cherokee at bayonet point and march them to Oklahoma territory . . . killing 4000 of them along the way. It's a book every young American of every ethnic background should read -- not to mention everyone else. If you can see what happened in the Clinch River Valley, you can see what happened in all America. It's also beautifully written. Here's just a sample, where the author is talking about ice-age hunters in the Clinch Valley. 'Certainly the paleo-Indians were here in the Clinch Valley when all was frozen and the icy air made their lungs rattle. Certainly at night they held their Clovis spears tight, huddled close around their campfires and together watched the blood-red shining eyes -- perhaps of sabre-toothed cats -- watching them so ominously from just beyond the firelight. Certainly they gazed at the unchanging stars and wondered silently if there was not more to life than ambushing those massive ice-age beasts less clever than they.