The Map of Who We Are

The Map of Who We Are is Lawrence R. Smith's epic vision of the last one thousand years of American history. A work of astonishing breadth and imagination, the novel combines Native American myth and prophecy, Chinese alchemy, and European esotericism to depict a radical transformation in our sense of who we are and where we belong. Central to the novel are the Travelers, who communicate across apparent divisions in time and space by means of the Network, a grid of interlocking energy vortices. Among the Travelers are Handsome Bear, a Chacoan who visits Kublai Khan's China in an attempt to restore vitality to his dying culture; Joey Malone, a Neanderthal healer; Walker Thompkins, a contemporary Lakota woman; Wong Fu Gee, a Chinese revolutionary posing as a fisherman in nineteenth-century Monterey; and the jazz pianist Thelonius Monk. These characters struggle to oppose the Death Squad, whose aim is prevent the Great Millennial Shift, which will mark the end of racial, ethnic, and gender conflict in America.

In a virtuoso blending of fact and fiction, Smith stands historical assumptions on their heads. For example, Native Americans become early intercontinental travelers and "discoverers" (though not conquerors) of other lands. The novel's brilliant interweaving of myriad plot threads culminates in an inspiring vision of the peace predicted by Christian, Native American, and Eastern religions: the reign of the lotus, the cactus, and the crimson rose.