One of the most fascinating aspects of Norman Macleod's The Bitter Roots, just published by @bhousepress.bsky.social and the U. of Montana Press, is the wealth of contemporary events Macleod incorporates into his text. A thread (🧵) with some examples. - ThreadSky

neglectedbooks.com • 167 days ago

One of the most fascinating aspects of Norman Macleod's The Bitter Roots, just published by @bhousepress.bsky.social and the U. of Montana Press, is the wealth of contemporary events Macleod incorporates into his text. A thread (🧵) with some examples.

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neglectedbooks.com•167 days ago

In the first chapter, Macleod quotes the news of the vote in Congress on the resolution to declare war on Germany in June 1917. Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and Montana's sole representative in the house, was one of 50 members to vote "No."
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neglectedbooks.com•167 days ago

In the 2nd chapter, Macleod's fictional counterpart, Pauly Craig, goes swimming with a group of boys in the Clark Fork River near the Van Buren St. bridge. One of the boys is caught in the current and drowns. This corresponds to the actual death of 11-yr-old Maurice Llafet in May 1917.
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neglectedbooks.com•167 days ago

Montana is rocked in June 1917 by the explosion in the Speculator mine in Butte, in which over 200 miners were trapped and killed by the blast and poisonous gases. This was the worst, but not the first, of mining accidents in Butte that spurred labor organization and protests.
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neglectedbooks.com•167 days ago

The labor organizers, many of them members of the International Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies), quickly ran afoul of the wealthy mine owners and a death list began circulating calling for their execution. In August 1917, IWW leader Frank Little was kidnapped and lynched outside Butte.
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neglectedbooks.com•167 days ago

In February 1918, a German submarine sunk the transport ship Tuscania, killing all aboard. The casualties included US Army soldiers who had been stationed at Fort Missoula prior to their deployment to fight in France.
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neglectedbooks.com•167 days ago

Montana was one of the first states to prohibit the sale of alcohol, a year before the 18th Amendment instituted Prohibition throughout the U.S. One of Macleod's friends gets involved in bootlegging and nearly gets killed in a shoot-out, corresponding to another real event.
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