“I think this is a figure you’ll really want to know about,” Heath said.
Heath described himself as an interdisciplinary scholar. He said at one point he was writing poetry and literary fiction and obtaining a degree in American studies before becoming a Fulbright Scholar and sent to Seville, Spain.
Before his recent publication about Wells’ life, Heath had published a work of literary fiction that was loosely based on his own life and a work of historical fiction examining the life of civil rights activist Bob Moses. Heath described his “naiveté” when his agent from New York City told him his book about civil rights activist Bob Moses was going to be published.
“I called my agent and said, ‘Who’s going to get the movie roles?’” Heath said.
His book on Moses’ life was well-received — it was nominated for a Pulitzer — and set the foundation for the nonfiction work he would later write on Wells.
Heath said his father was interested in genealogy, and it was his father’s research that made him realize he didn’t know very much about the history of the old Northwest. It was in his research of the subject that Heath stumbled across the figure of William Wells, a frontiersman with ties to Indiana history.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll have to read a book about him,’” Heath said. “But there were none.”
So Heath began delving into the rich history surrounding Wells.
“One of the ironies about our myth of the frontier is that you wanted to be on your own where you couldn’t see the smoke of someone else’s cabin,” Heath said. “Those people usually died.”
He spoke of a wild frontier of the past where Indians pillaged and raided, scalps were claimed as prizes and a duplicitous government made treaties that were never intended to be kept.
Carla Hedges, a member of the Friends of the Library, started off question time.
“It doesn’t sound like the government has changed much,” Hedges said.
Heads nodded around the room as Heath laughed.
Nancy Stockwell, who acts as a sort of chairman for the Coffee with Friends meetings, said Heath had reached out to her for the opportunity to speak in front of the group. Heath told her he was on a speaking circuit and wanted to stop by Bloomington.
“It’s usually whoever on the committee has a connection to someone,” Stockwell said. “Usually it’s authors, sometimes we have musicians and we’ve also had children’s book authors.”
Hedges said she enjoyed the speaker series.
“I try to come to them all because they are really interesting,” Hedges said.
The Coffee with Friends events usually happen four times a year.
wwDue to the group’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the last event will be held sometime in August.
