As All My Fathers Were
Richard and Seth Barret are used to the daily routine of running the Barrett Ranch, on the Platte River in Nebraska. It is their intent to keep doing so after their mother dies, but the terms of her will slam that door shut.
Suddenly their routine is disrupted. They are forced to travel in 61 days, by horse and canoe, along the Platte River, to understand why their maternal grandfather homesteaded that property three generations ago. From the grave, their mother commands them to observe the burdens industrial farming is placing on the land, air, and water.
A 90 year-old bachelor farmer with a game plan of his own, returns to Plattsmouth and butts in on their travel plans. He time-eating detours threaten to disrupt and delay the trip, which could cause them to lose the ranch. A wealthy neighbor seeks to get control of the Barrett Ranch. While the brothers are plying the river, he is throwing obstacles in their schedule with the assistance of the hometown sheriff and a local politician.
The Platte River, "A mile wide and an inch deep," becomes its own character in this turbulent novel and lives up to its legend as being "too thick to drink and too thin to plow."
About James A. Misko (Anchorage, Alaska Author)
James A. Misko was born in Ord, Nebraska, then moved to Oregon and Alaska, completing what for him was a natural bridge to the frontier. He has worked as an oil field roughneck, a logger, mink rancher, truck driver, sawmill hand, teacher, journalist, real estate broker, and writer. With numerous published articles and five novels to his credit, he continues to work at being the best author of fiction he can be. Jim and his wife Patti live in Alaska during the summer and California in the winter.
