Book Review: Caleb's Crossing

Okay. Here’s an admission. I am a Geraldine Brooks groupie. She was a keynote speaker at this year’s Historical Novel Society Conference in Portland, Oregon. And I stood next to her in the buffet lunch line! I got up enough courage to speak to her. I told her that I loved all her works, but my favorite was Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague. “That’s my husband’s favorite, too,” she replied. Yessss!

So here I am to share another of her works that I loved: Caleb’s Crossing.

First, to speak more generally across her various works, the aspects I value highly are her attention to historical accuracy and detail. That is paramount for historical fiction, but some write more historical FICTION than HISTORICAL fiction.

I wrote about this in movies in an earlier post, but it holds true for me for novels as well. I love to learn things when I read historical fiction. If I can trust the author’s research and interpretation, I enjoy the book more.

Brooks also has an eye for observation and writes spot-on characters. They leap off the page into your consciousness becoming as real as people you know in life. She also deals always with broader issues humans face such as faith, ethics, and responsibility to others. Oh, and she finds the most interesting, odd, little-known stories to shine her light on.

In Caleb’s Crossing, the recently-formed college that would later be named Harvard had a mission in its charter to not only educate settlers of the New World, but also to educate local indigenous peoples. Isn’t that remarkable? Caleb was the first Native American graduate in 1665. One of two graduates, actually, but the other was killed on his way to the graduation and Joel Iacommes didn’t get his degree awarded until 2011. At that same 2011 graduation, Tiffany Smalley, the first member of the Wampanoag tribe to attend Harvard since Caleb, received her diploma.

Caleb’s story is told through the journal of 12-year-old Bethia, a settler on Martha’s Vineyard, home to Caleb’s tribe. The fictional Bethia, daughter of the local minister, befriends Caleb and is drawn to the humanity, ethics, and spiritual practices of his people.

Cheeshahteaumuck, Caleb’s native name, was recognized early on as an intellect and was schooled by the white settlers. Their intent, of course, was not so pure as to educate for the sake of education. Thinking at the time included the implicit and explicit expectation that with the white man’s learning, the local indigenous people would no longer be “savages” and that they would embrace Protestantism resulting in peaceful cohabitation with “civilized” neighbors.

In her notes to readers, Brooks shares the little bit of known information about this young man and his educational journey. Then she creates a credible fictional world to place him in the values and conflicts and philosophical discussions of the era. What a remarkable thing, to be the only Native American in white institutions, and so brave for Caleb not only to have attempted Harvard, but to have graduated.

This is a wonderful book to reflect on the purpose of education and the colonization and absorption of local peoples. You will come away understanding better what early English settlers brought to the colony and how they changed the world around them.

If you enjoyed this review, share it with others. Here are some copy/paste messages you can use.

Facebook: Geraldine Brooks’ CALEB’S CROSSING is a remarkable and little known story of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard—in 1665! http://bit.ly/2wu33Ge

Twitter: Have you read @GeraldineBrooks’ CALEB’S CROSSING about the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665? http://bit.ly/2wu33Ge