Museum of Human Beings

By Colin W. Sargent and Colin Sargent

Book Overview

From deprivation in the wilderness to the lavish courts of European nobility, this poignant historical novel explores the life and quest of Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea. After the famed Lewis and Clark expedition and the death of his mother, Jean-Baptiste was brought up as Clark's foster son. He was eventually paraded throughout Europe as a curiosity from the wilds of America, labeled as a half-gentleman and half-animal, entertaining nobility as a concert pianist. Later, Jean-Baptiste returns to North America with a burning desire to create his own place in the New World. In doing so, he returns to the heart of the American wilderness on an epic quest for ultimate identity that brings sacrifice, loss, and the distant promise of redemption.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590133498
• ISBN13: 9781590133491
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: McBooks Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Work of Fiction--Rooted in America's Legendary Past

Review of Museum of Human Beings (November 2008, McBooks Press) A novel by Colin Sargent hardcover, $23.95 Review by John Michael Cummings In Museum of Human Beings, author Colin Sargent focuses on the life of a relatively little known character associated with one of the most famous American sagas --the Lewis and Clark expedition--spinning a wondrous tale spanning more than six decades. In this well-paced debut novel, we experience the new and old world through the eyes of Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the half-breed son of Sacagawea, the expedition's Shoshone guide to the Pacific Ocean. Raised by William Clark after Sacagewea's death, Jean-Baptiste, affectionately nicknamed "Pomp," desperately seeks his white foster father's approval and acceptance - a piercing desire thwarted throughout his lifetime despite Pomp's eager willingness to abandon his mother's Indian ways and immerse himself in learning the white man's culture. But despite his keen aptitude for learning, Clark instead sends him away to Europe to be educated under the tutelage of the debauched Duke Paul of Germany. Trained by the Duke as a concert pianist, Jean-Baptiste tours Europe, but finds little more acceptance in the old world, where he is viewed by almost all as nothing more than an entertaining American oddity - a savage "dancing bear." Disillusioned by his experiences in the supposed civilized world, Baptiste, upon his return to America, enters a new phase of his life, one more attuned to his Indian heritage, spending many years living in the wilderness as a fur trapper. Eventually, he becomes an Indian guide for the U.S. Army, leading an expedition to the Pacific, where his story began so many years earlier. Sargent skillfully lays out these historical details without sacrificing the pacing of the story and while presenting Baptiste as an engaging though deeply troubled character. Indeed, this novel would succeed as a pure work of fiction, even if Baptiste were not the son of a famous Indian woman rooted in America's legendary past. Sargent's command of language is remarkable, undoubtedly owing to his background as a poet. He writes with an obvious appreciation of the nuances inherent in the words heard and spoken by someone like Baptiste, who, apparently like the author, is a man who never ceases to be amazed by "language's power to be either a wall or a way to move between worlds." John Michael Cummings is author of The Night I Freed John Brown (Philomel Books, Penguin Group).

Mueseum of Human Beings

In Museum of Human Beings, Colin Sargent follows the life of Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea, from his early childhood with the Lewis & Clark Expedition to his death. Born to an Indian mother and her French captor, he is taken as a foster child by Clark and raised at his home. There he catches the eye of a visiting Duke and is taken to Europe. Why he agrees to go with Duke Paul and to put up with being treated as a savage introduces the core of the book. The narrator focuses on Baptiste's search for who he is and where he fits in his world. The story follows the actual travels of Baptiste and Sargent does an amazing job of creating a fascinating interior life for the man. Very well done.

An intriguing bit of American history, lyrically written.

It's no surprise, but yet a huge delight to find that Maine author Colin Sargent is a poet and a playwright. In this book about the son of Sacagawea, a fine wrought plot, the gift of the playwright, combines lovingly and lushiously with a polyphonal poetic prose into a sublime book of intense readability and pleasant diversion. The characters, again a part of the dramatist's craft, play out well and resonate with humanity and feasible foibles. There's so much to recommend this book. Fans of American historicals such as James Thom or Alan Eckert will definitely enjoy this, but so would fans of T. C. Boyle or William Vollmann or Wayne Johnston would as well. Literate historical Americana --- what a treat!

Great Historical Fiction

I enjoyed this book tremendously. The characters, especially Baptiste, are very well developed and the story is well integrated into the historical setting. Great book!

Museum of Human Beings

This adventure tale is a tour de force, rocketing through history from Jean Baptiste Charbonneau's days on Sacagawea's back to his coming-of-age as a classical pianist in Europe to his haunted final days in the Wild West. Baptiste is "half gentleman, half animal" and totally original, an exotic man desperate to find out who he is. He's on his own gripping, funny, heartbreaking, and startling "Voyage of Discovery." Go with him.