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The year, 1812. The place, the Northwest Territories. The event, the beginning of a new American identity. One great civilization would be destroyed and one would begin to breathe a life of freedom.

The Northwest Territories were unlike any other land in America with Their enormous lakes, great rivers, endless dark forests and vast prairies providing habitat and sustenance to the original people. Forced west into this American Garden of Eden by the newly arrived, land greedy Europeans were the great tribes of the Iroquois and Delaware sharing now the land with the Shawnee and Wyandot. All would soon have to make a stand to save their cultures. South of the great Ohio River other Europeans were also moving westward bringing with them their black property to build and work the new tobacco and cotton plantations. Many of these slaves heard of a chance for freedom in the new state of Ohio and, further north beyond its border, Canada where black men could live free and prosper. Some would risk their lives for a better one. Into this crucible of social change author Jim Oleson takes his young fictional hero Jim Morgan to introduce, through the recreation of actual events and cameo appearances of historical figures who helped shape this fascinating moment in American history. An adroit mixture of fact and fiction, The End and the Beginning gives history buffs new insight into this American drama while providing a vivid, fast-paced narrative for any reader to enjoy.