From an old Scottish legend to the adventures of a modern-day hero in WWII, experience once again Diane Gladow’s view of American history through the writings of those ordinary people who lived it. In The Builders, the third book of her nonfiction series A Journey of Voices, the McAdams families tell their story, often humorously, of building worthy lives and communities through creativity, hard work, struggle, and vision.

Experience American History once again through the personal letters and accounts of the people who lived it. In Mrs. Gladow’s second book in her A Journey of Voices series, seven generations of the Crume family interact with two hundred years of American History. This book tells the story of the Crume family by interweaving old letters, pictures, land documents, Bible records, and historical references with an account of the family’s life and movement through seven generations. Whether it be flatboating down the Ohio River, building homes in the wilderness, fighting in the American Revolution, enduring the Civil War in a border state, dealing with Indians in Texas, surviving the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, or experiencing two World Wars, this family will continue to surprise and challenge readers to look at history in a completely new way.  This family connects to the Lincoln family at the point of President Lincoln’s aunt, so certain members of the Crume family were Lincoln’s first cousins.  Stories surrounding this connection are contained in the book, as well as the story of the modern-day search for a Crume cemetery in Kentucky, missing for one hundred and fifty years, where the President’s aunt is buried.

Old, yellowed, mouse-chewed letters can be fascinating reading as they open the door to the past, to a time which can usually only be visited in the history books. A Journey of Voices: Chasing the Frontier is the end product of a fifteen-year search to find any existing information about the Jordan family and to tell their story through their written letters. The Jordan family immigrated from North Carolina to Georgia to Mississippi to Louisiana in the early 1800s, fought their way through the Civil War and Reconstruction, and immigrated once again to Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The story of their journey and the voices in their letters combine to form a rich microcosm of American history. For readers, and especially those interested in the ordinary people who lived American history, this book provides a way to see and hear about the momentous events of the past in a unique way. Come, take a journey and meet the Jordans, people of courage, humor, and indomitable spirit.