Books: Soul Trek Black Robe

by Brian Moore Dutton; 246 pages; $15.95

The subject of Brian Moore's 15th novel is the collision of Jesuits and Indians in 17th century North America, a story of hardship, faith and incompatibility. The Algonquin and Huron of what is now Canada regarded the priests as black-robed sorcerers overly concerned with death and water magic. The French missionaries saw "les Sauvages" as beastly innocents fated to burn in hell if they escaped baptism. Heaven was a hard sell because the Indians had no strong ideas about souls and paradise. As one of Moore's intractable red men puts it, "It is because you Normans are deaf and blind that...

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