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Author James Alexander Thom said he doesn’t know why people come to hear him speak because he’s already written everything he knows in his books.
Despite his comment – which garnered chuckles from the more than 60 people gathered at Peabody Public Library in Columbia City on Sunday to hear the Indiana author of best-selling historical novels speak – Thom went on to talk for about an hour, sharing insights into American Indian culture, storytelling and the challenge of writing compelling stories about historical events.
Thom also touched on the original topic of his address – libraries.
“I love libraries,” Thom said. “I’ve spent my life in them.”
Thom has also spent much time immersed in rigorous historical research and learning about American Indian culture for his novels, which often relate historical events mostly from the perspective of American Indians rather than from white settlers.
Part of that perspective is the perception of time, and history, as a circle rather than a straight line, like a flowing river, Thom said.
“Everything in the Indian tradition is circle. Sacred circle,” said Thom, whose books include “Follow the River” and “Saint Patrick’s Battalion.”
The circle means that all time is simultaneous, allowing contemporary people to reach back in time to their ancestors as well as forward in time to those yet to be born.
That perception has allowed Thom to feel connected to history, as he said we all are, because we all will – even in a small way – make history.
“That’s about as mystical as I’m going to get,” Thom said before beginning an explanation of how American Indians lived in harmony with the Earth, their decisions taking into account the needs of future generations.
“They did not believe in growth for the sake of growth,” Thom said.
Thom, who acknowledged that he is sometimes accused of romanticizing American Indian culture, said the fact that American Indians survived for more than 20,000 years shows they were successful.
“We’re just the latest demographic mix to be coming through,” Thom said.
Thom spoke about the challenge of storytelling when faced with historical events and readers who likely already know the story’s outcome. That challenge is achieved by firmly placing the reader in the time period by demonstrating what it’s like to tan a deer hide, to walk through a hunting camp or to go hungry for weeks while lost in the wilderness.
“I try to write it in such a way that you will be there,” Thom said.
