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Lewis and Clark

Although he is facing his 58th birthday, Jacques Allard is as active as ever. So when his friend, the great Indian translator, Georges Drouillard, appears with prospects for the greatest adventure in American history, Jacques agrees instantly. Against his wife’s judgment, he proposes to take his young son, Louis-Pierre, and his two metis or mixed-blood friends Lucien and Michel de Baptiste. The story of their travels with Lewis and Clark follow closely the descriptions in Lewis’s excellent diary. With some fun added by yours truly. Read More 
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The Allards Book Five: The City in the Wilderness

By the grace of Almighty God, I claim these lands for his majesty the King of France, and today on her feast day, I dedicate this church to the patron saint of New France, Sainte-Anne. And I hereby christen this fort “Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit.” It is here I shall build a city in the wilderness.
Antoine Lamothe Sieur de Cadillac: July 26, 1701
It was with this speech Cadillac began what would later become the Motor City and arsenal of democracy, but would linger as a frontier outpost for a century. Book Five covers the beginning of its emergence as a great American city. Read More 
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The Allards Book Five: The City in the Wilderness

THE ALLARDS BOOK FIVE: THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS: The Trailer
Old Jacques Allard and his young son, Louis-Pierre, are invited to participate in the grandest American wilderness adventure of them all, to travel west with Lewis and Clark in search of the Northwest Passage to the sea. Returning two years later, they find their city in ruins following the great Detroit fire of 1805.
The epic rebirth of a new city in the wilderness is hampered first by the War of 1812 and finally the world-wide cholera epidemic of 1832. It is during this time that Detroit is transfigured from a military outpost to a true city. Historical figures such as Meriwether Lewis, Augustus Woodward, and Gabriel Richard are accurately portrayed but with the author’s own touch of personalization.
All of Dr. Kreis’ books are available in print and Kindle format on Amazon.com. Read More 
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The City in the Wilderness

At the close of the story, Georges Drouillard, a young yet renowned interpreter whose father traveled with Jacques in the early days with Charbonneau, approaches Jacques about a new and even greater adventure. This leads us into Book Five: The City in the Wilderness. Read More 
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Picnics

Sunday Picnics: Always a part of French life in the new world, these affairs continued to the time of my youth. My mother and grandmother told wonderful stories about them. They were ongoing forums for gossip, socializing, news, discussions, eating, drinking, and the occasional “friendly fights” so common to the French culture in the new world. Read More 
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