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Book details
  • Genre:POLITICAL SCIENCE
  • SubGenre:American Government / General
  • Language:English
  • Series title:Gitche Gumee Trilogy
  • Series Number:3
  • Pages:144
  • Paperback ISBN:9798350968194

The Gitche Gumee Diaries

The Secrets of Velvet LeBlanc

by James P. Hill

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Overview
The Gitche Gumee Diaries is the third in a trilogy of books dealing with the spiritual and political journey of a First American woman from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who uncovers a decades-old environmental mystery surrounding the contamination of the largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior, which Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dubbed Gitche Gumee in his epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. The protagonist, Velvet LeBlanc, is an environmental activist who eventually is elected to Congress. The trilogy begins with her upbringing and the tragedies she faced running for and winning election to the U.S. Congress, where she plays a pivotal role in determining the next President of the United States in the hotly contested 2024 Presidential election. The second novel traces her political battle in Congress when she uncovers a major military scandal involving the dumping of radioactive waste into Lake Superior. This third novel traces her attempt to seek Congressional and Presidential support to remove the existential threat that the radioactive waste poses to the Lake and the price she pays for her persistence. It exposes her secret thoughts in her diary about her spiritually driven mission, the First American culture she seeks to protect, and the previously unknown tragedies and threats she faced as she seeks to protect her beloved Gitch Gumee.
Description
Lake Superior, the largest of the five Great Lakes which Longfellow dubbed "Gitche Gumee" in his epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha, is the center of a trilogy of political novels written by Dr. James Hill. Situated mainly in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula, this is the story of a First American woman named Velvet LeBlanc and her political and spiritual journey to protect Gitche Gumee from a mysterious, decades old military scandal that poses an existential threat to the lake. The trilogy begins with a series of dramatic and tragic events that lead her to run and win a seat in Congress, where she plays a key role in deciding the winner of the hotly contested 2024 Presidential elections. The second novel traces her investigation into the mysterious arrival of barrels of military waste which wash ashore on the beaches of Lake Superior, leading to her discovery of a decades-old cover-up of a scandalous military secret that poses an existential threat to Lake Superior. This third novel is her battle in Congress, now that the contents of these barrels is discovered to contain radioactive waste, to have the barrels removed from the lake. It is an uphill battle for Velvet who is now an independent member of Congress, but who has strong ties to the President she helped put in office. Through a reading of her diaries, the reader learns of Velvet's strong spiritual and tribal cultural beliefs that help her fight a wall of resistance by the military and its allies who want this issue to go away. It uncovers many of her secrets that explain why she chose the path less traveled to protect Lake Superior and the mortal danger she placed herself by engaging in a political environment so alien to this young and spiritually driven woman. The diaries provide a glimpse of the political world and its challenges it poses to First Americans who seek justice in a white dominated government.
About the author
Dr. Hill is a retired university professor, having taught law and political science over a period of four decades. He previously worked in the U.S. Senate and U.S, House of Representatives and as a political consultant on numerous federal election campaigns. His primary research interest is the Great Lakes, and he has served as a gubernatorial appointed Commissioner on the Michigan Department of Natural Resources which oversees the state's water resources, He hold degrees from Michigan State University (B.A. and Ph.D), University of Michigan (J.D.), and Harvard University (MPA). He was born and spent his early years in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula and currently lives with his wife in Geneva, Illinois