Oh, Promised Land

Dabney Family Saga #1

by James H. Street

In 1795 the rugged and dangerous Mississippi Territory is open for exploration and settlement by the rare few who have the courage and determination to survive. When pioneers Sam'l Dabney and his sister, Honoria, lose their parents in a Creek attack and must leave Georgia to begin new lives, they head for French-held Louisiana in order to find "Lock Poka", which in Choktaw means "here we rest" or "promised land".

Sam Dabney is a man of rare strength and size and resolute spirit — a larger-than-life hero who rises by his boldness and acumen from being "ol' man Dabney's brat" to a man of consequence in the settling, trading, and armed protection of the land. Sam, his sister Honoria, his wife Donna, and his Choktaw companion, Tishomingo, form the core of this panoramic saga — Sam is an opportunist and is quick to take risks in order to establish himself and support his family; Donna, devoted but delicate, finds her life threatened by fever, but helps Sam guard a dangerous secret; Honoria, beautiful, unscrupulous and greedy, makes money her only standard; and Tishmingo works to develop an English alphabet for the Cherokee language and fulfills a debt of hatred. The story also teems with historical characters, Indians, renegades, politicians, pioneers, slaves and richly portrayed incidental figures as well as facts about French, Spanish, British and American interests that enhance or impede progress on every page.

Oh Promised Land is the first book in a five novel saga of the unforgettable Dabney family. A robust and entertaining picture of a period (1795-1817) meticulously researched and convincingly portrayed.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

Hardcover

First published June 1, 1940

About the author

From Wikipedia:

James Howell Street (October 15, 1903 – September 28, 1954) was a U.S. journalist, minister, and writer of Southern historical novels.
Street was born in Lumberton, Mississippi, in 1903. As a teenager, he began working as a journalist for newspapers in Laurel and Hattiesburg, Mississippi. At the age of 20, Street, born a Roman Catholic, decided to become a Baptist minister, attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Howard College. Unsatisfied with his pastoral work after ministering stints in Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama, Street returned to journalism in 1926.
After briefly holding a position with the Pensacola, Florida Journal, Street joined the staff of the Associated Press. The AP position took him to New York, where he began freelance writing fiction. Hired away from the AP by the New York World-Telegram in 1937, Street sold a short story ("A Letter to the Editor") to Cosmopolitan magazine, which caught the eye of film producer David Selznick, who turned it into a hit film, Nothing Sacred. The Broadway musical, Hazel Flagg, was based on his short story, as well as the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis-film Living It Up.
His success allowed him to write full-time, and throughout the 1940s he worked on a five-novel series of historical fiction about the progress of the Dabney family through the 19th century. The Dabney pentology--Oh, Promised Land, Tap Roots, By Valor and Arms, Tomorrow We Reap, and Mingo Dabney--explored classic Southern issues of race and honor, and strongly characterized Street's struggle to reconcile his Southern heritage with his feelings about racial injustice. The series was a critical and popular success, with several of the books being made into feature films. Street modeled characters in his Dabney family saga on Sam Dale, Newt Knight and Greenwood LeFlore.
Street also published two popular novels about boys and dogs, The Biscuit Eater and Good-bye, My Lady, both were turned into movies, and a set of semi-autobiographical novels about a Baptist minister, The Gauntlet and The High Calling, both were bought by Hollywood but never produced.
Street's short stories and articles appeared regularly in Cosmopolitan, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's and Holiday.
Street died of a heart attack, in Chapel Hill, N.C., on September 28, 1954, at the age of 50.

Reviews

[Carol Storm · Rating 2 out of 5]

So hard to rate this book! It's hundreds of pages too long, the hero is a crashing bore, and the racist attitudes of all the main characters are unbelievably disgusting and offensive. On the other hand, the setting is fascinating, the scope is epic, and the last couple of hundred pages have plenty of action and historical drama.

Now this book came out in 1940, right after Gone With The Wind. But it really feels like a "prequel" to the story of Georgia. In GWTW there's a moment where Scarlett meets a peppery old lady who survived the massacre at Fort Mims, and she decides Scarlett is just as tough and just as much a survivor as she is. This book tells the story of Fort Mims, and what led up to it. So that's one star.

The other star is for Wicked Loving Lies by Rosemary Rogers. You see, I love that book. I've read it a hundred times. Rosemary Rogers systematically puts Marisa through all the most well-known tropes in romance. There's a pirate romance, a desert sheikh romance, a Regency romance, all of them starring Dominic and Marisa. But the last fifth of the book, I now realize, is a total rip off of Oh Promised Land by James H. Street. When Marisa comes to Natchez and the heat is on, and the French and Spanish and the American pioneers are all scheming and intriguing to claw out an empire, that's all taken directly from this book. Only Marisa and Inez and Dominic and Pedro and Lalie and Paulus are all so much more interesting and sensual and glamorous than "Big Sam" Dabney and his dumb ass posse of pitiful fakes and wannabes.

Let's meet the cast of Oh, Promised Land.

Big Sam Dabney -- the hero of this book tries to rape an Indian girl for fun about fifty pages in. That's really all you need to know. He's dumb as Jethro in the Beverly Hillbillies, as greedy and cruel as Thomas Sutpen in Absalom, Absalom, and yet all through the book he's like the pioneer Mary Sue. Andrew Jackson wants to party with him. Sam Houston wants to party with him. Tecumseh wants to party with him. But there's nothing there! He's kind of like Nucky in Boardwalk Empire. He just exists so the author can bring in cool guys from the period and have them say how great he is.

Tishomingo -- the Choctaw who is absolutely, totally, slavishly devoted to Big Sam. For reasons that don't make any kind of historical or moral sense. Plus Big Sam calls him "Chock," and good old "Chock" spends all his time planning how to whip a man to death that he hates.

Lake Flournoy -- he's the man Chock wants to whip. To death. Because he stole some girl named Ta Lo Wah who dies before the book begins. Monsieur Lake is really no worse than anyone else. He's a cruel slave owner and a liar. But he's half French and half Indian, so he's the bad guy.

Honoria is Big Sam's sister. She's a slut. She's like Scarlett O'Hara, only worse. At least Scarlett loves her father and genuinely wants her mother's love. Honoria is just greedy and mean.

Donna -- Sam's first wife. She coughs a lot. She's like Melanie Wilkes only not as energetic. Her whole mission in life is to waste away slowly.

Anastasie -- She's in the book five hundred pages before she really does anything. Then all of a sudden she's amazing and Big Sam falls in love with her. Too little, too late!

Lawyer Thomas -- he's a short, fat lawyer who talks a lot. Then all of a sudden he's brave and smart and amazing and has the coolest death ever. Dumb ass Street should have made him the hero!

Jasper and Dabby -- they're slaves. James H. Street shows how loyal and helpful they are, and yet he lets "Big Sam" put them down and buy them and sell them at will. With no sense of irony!

Hoab and Shellie -- they're little kids who get introduced about 100 pages before the end of the book. They're obviously meant to be the main characters in the next book in the series. The thing that made me throw the book against the wall was that both of them, especially Shellie, were kinder, funnier, and more appealing than any of the adults. And they have more chemistry as a couple, too!

So yeah, this book was an epic all right. An epic disappointment!

[Marilyn]

This story is excellent. It deals with the family saga of the Dabneys who migrate from Georgia to French held Louisiana just after the Revolutionary War. James Street grew up in Mississippi and wow, did he ever do his research. The main character is Sam Dabney, followed by his bewitching sister, Honoria, his friend Ab, and Tishomingo, a half-breed Cherokee whose major goal in life is to develop an English alphabet for the Cherokee language. James Street also wrote several sequels about the Dabney family; his second was called Tap Roots which Hollywood made into a movie but it is his first book which is so very good. I cannot imagine anyone who likes American History coming away from reading it and feeling disappointed. I think it should be added to this group's Bookshelf.

[Clayton Brannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really a very good read with a plausible story intermeshed with historical facts. The book was published 80 years ago and I am sure some will criticize it for some of the things in it. That being said read, it if you can, like you were living in 1940 and this was a new book.

[Bill Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Historical Fiction

I read Street's Dabney saga over 60 years ago in high school. He hooked me on historical fiction. Street's GOOD BYE MY LADY is a must read.

[Judith Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of historical fiction that I love! A wonderful saga with wonderful characters! It’s also full of wonderful history. I loved this book and definitely plan on reading the entire series.

[Karen Pickner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story gets better the second it’s read

I first read this book as a young teenager when my Grandmother gave it to me . The story is a history lesson but it’s a wonderful way to learn history ! Simply put , it’s a great story.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was really boring.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book about 50 years ago and loved it then. Still a very good read, full of history. Nowadays, however, it wouldn't be considered politically correct.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a saga of Western Expansion when the USA was very young. Written in the 1940's by a lapsed and philosophically troubled Baptist minister,it depicts the struggles and triumphs of pioneers in the Southeastern part of the country from 1795-1817. I found reference to this title while reading THE BOOKWOMAN'S LAST FLING by John Dunning. Cliff Janeway, on a case, pops into a used book store and finds this title on the shelf. He knows it is a rare book and wants to buy it but he can't take the time because a person of interest has begun to move and he has to follow. Because of this reference I noted the title and also looked up the value of the book. On Biblio.com, a first edition in good shape is worth $500.00. I wish I could research this title a little more. A review on Amazon calls the book" meticulously researched historical fiction ... about the daily lives of men and women who settled the U.S., moving westward from the coastal areas." The coastal areas are Florida, the Carolina's, Tennessee and other far reaches of the southeast. The author, James Street, was born in Tennessee and sought a career as a journalist before he went into the ministry. After he became conflicted with his religious pursuits, Street, again, went back to journalism. According to Wikipedia, Street based some of his characters on known southern characters, for instance Greenwood Le Flore, a choctaw native American. Pushmataha, a Choctaw chief, Jefferson Davis and Andrew Jackson are just some of the actual historical figures that appear in his tale. Andrew Jackson becomes a worn out, wounded warrior as he kills native Americans all over the place. There is much racial bias here, with maltreatement of blacks and native americans. Plus, there is killing, the romantic figure of the stoic American Indian, fortunes lost and won, innovative covered wagons, and heroic, blustering, larger-than-life frontiersmen and women. Historical fiction aficianados who love the adventure and heartbreak of United States' westward expansion will excitedly plough through this book even though it is an 816 page book.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a winning combination of Street’s easy storytelling style combined with layers of careful research including the basing of characters on real people. In this beginning story we’re introduced to Sam’l Dabney, a larger than life man who leaves Georgia along with his sister, Honoria, after their parents are killed in a Creek attack. The Mississippi Territory into which they venture is rugged but Sam’l is determined to find ‘Lock Poka”, which in Choctaw means ‘here we rest” or “promised land”. The delicate tensions between pioneers and the native peoples of the land, the French, Spanish, British and American conflicts of interest, debts of hatred, the necessity for risk-taking, life-threatening fevers and more make for a rich story as we watch Sam’l Dabney, a ‘born solder’, grow into a leader and no more “ol’ man Dabney’s brat” of the Georgia days.

I found this beginning of a saga compelling and didn’t want to put it down. I look forward to the next 4 volumes.

[Kimberly Houston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tale of bravery and the desire for a better life. Historically, near true account of the settling of the Mississippi Territory.

[Michael Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread since I was in 8 th grade when I last read this. It is a great epic but with some racism that is part of the 1940's. It dampens my enthusiasm.