"My stories are history of a kind. The difference is that I write of the nameless ones, and when they have left no stories I write what must have been, what could have been, using knowledge of the country itself, how it was traveled, how many people lived by hunting and gathering, and what their relationships might have been with the Indians and others. Yet my stories or any others, as well as history itself, must always be read with the understanding that we know only a small part of the whole picture."