This novel is based loosely on the life of historical Northwest brewer, Henry Weinhard--1830-1904-- his travel across the U.S as a young man, his struggle to establish himself as a brew master in Portland, Oregon, his financial career as a successful entrepreneur. This novel treats the main events in Henry's life as a starting place to tell a larger, more mythical story of the white settlement of the West and interpolates Weinhard's life itself as part of this great western mythos. So history and myth combine in the tale of a young man leaving the small town of Lindenbronn, Wurttenberg, Germany for the opportunities and trials of the American West. Michael Strelow's novel, The Greening of Ben Brown (Hawthorne Books, 2005) was a finalist for the Ken Kesey Award from Oregon Literary Arts. He has published fiction, poetry, short stories and non-fiction in a variety of literary and commercial magazines