Buck and Jed — William Evans

The story traces the lives of Buck and Jed, two orphans, one born and raised white, the other white and black and raised red. It is the story of how each molded their gifts of nature and nurture, to determine much of their character, their personality, their view of others, and of life. Their lives demonstrate how ancestors recent and remote, the religions of their youth, life experiences, and the mentors each encountered, helped to shape them. Buck's past allowed him the flexibility to change, the ability to import the best of his life experiences to mollify some of his genetic inheritance while reinforcing, even amplifying, the stronger traits. Jed, on the other hand, remained locked in unyielding adherence to past experience and unalterable inherited patterns of thought. Though set in the 1890's, involves Indians, and the white pioneers of the old west, the issues of greed, extortion, fraud and deception, mayhem, murder, courage and compassion have a universal and timeless flavor. The story follows the ascent of one, and the eventual life of hardship and isolation from friends, family, and all he once presumed was his, for the other.