Not since Alex Haley s Roots has a story probed so deeply into the intimate details of an indigenous American family. Inspired by the events of this Native American author s descendants Back to the Blanket chronicles seven generations of his Ojibwe roots. But just as importantly it places the events within the context of a tumultuous time in American History - a time when Western European Civilization was gaining enormous inroads in the Americas and leaving in its wake a devastating clash of cultures. But this story is not about typical Indian-White confrontations - bloody violent avaricious Indian battles. It reveals a more subtle yet just as deleterious subjugation of a people through the proliferation of White trade goods overzealous missionaries diseases for which there were no cures and the most contemptible allurement of all - alcohol.