Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West

by Anne F. Hyde

Finalist for the 2023 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize"Immersive and humane." —Jennifer Szalai, New York TimesA fresh history of the West grounded in the lives of mixed-descent Native families who first bridged and then collided with racial boundaries.

Often overlooked, there is mixed blood at the heart of America. And at the heart of Native life for centuries there were complex households using intermarriage to link disparate communities and create protective circles of kin. Beginning in the seventeenth century, Native peoples—Ojibwes, Otoes, Cheyennes, Chinooks, and others—formed new families with young French, English, Canadian, and American fur traders who spent months in smoky winter lodges or at boisterous summer rendezvous. These families built cosmopolitan trade centers from Michilimackinac on the Great Lakes to Bellevue on the Missouri River, Bent’s Fort in the southern Plains, and Fort Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest. Their family names are often imprinted on the landscape, but their voices have long been muted in our histories. Anne F. Hyde’s pathbreaking history restores them in full.

Vividly combining the panoramic and the particular, Born of Lakes and Plains follows five mixed-descent families whose lives intertwined major imperial battles over the fur trade; the first extensions of American authority west of the Appalachians; the ravages of imported disease; the violence of Indian removal; encroaching American settlement; and, following the Civil War, the disasters of Indian war, reservations policy, and allotment. During the pivotal nineteenth century, mixed-descent people who had once occupied a middle ground became a racial problem drawing hostility from all sides. Their identities were challenged by the pseudo-science of blood quantum—the instrument of allotment policy—and their traditions by the Indian schools established to erase Native ways. As Anne F. Hyde shows, they navigated the hard choices they faced as they had for by relying on the rich resources of family and kin. Here is an indelible western history with a new human face.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Native American, Indigenous, Race, Native Americans

474 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2022

Reviews

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hyde wrote an ambitious book. She traces five families through their mixed ancestry, Native American and white. She also provides an extensive background of Native American groups and history in the Great Lakes and Canadian venues.
It’s a wealth of knowledge and at times, overwhelming. I found it difficult to keep track of the Family branches, becoming lost and confused and having to flip back in the text to discern who was with whom,
The prose was a bit dry, occasionally, but overall it’s an inviting read.
I liked the focus on the family angle and really enjoyed reading about the Bent brothers and their progeny.
Thanks to Edelweiss, NetGalley, and W.W. Norton for the early copy.

[Rhiannon Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.






Before reading this book I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about interactions between English settlers and Native Americans. I learned the "traditional" aspects from the viewpoint of colonizers throughout elementary, middle, and high school, but knew next to nothing from the viewpoint of Native Americans until my college courses. I only learned about Indian schools last year after researching a small storyline from an amazing movie (Let Him Go). I didn't realize I had never really thought about the intermarriage between Native people and the traders moving throughout their lands.

Anne Hyde outlines the lives of 5 families made up of Canadian and American trappers and Native Americans, spanning from the late 1600s to the early 1900s. This look into the history of North America shows how trappers being adopted into various tribes through marriage helped the early development of the west.

I really enjoyed the topic of this book and the theme of the 5 families, but I was definitely confused several times. I wish there was some sort of family tree included for reference. (I read this as an e-ARC, but maybe there is in the final/hardback edition.)


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[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book on the role that mixed race people played in the early development of the west. The mixed people is primarily composed of Canadian and American trappers and American Indians. It covers the time period of the late 1600s to the early 1900s. The author does an outstanding job of showing how the relationships between the trappers and their Indian wives helped with the development of the west by being adopted into the various tribes. She also clearly shows how American expansionism continually diminished the American Indians land holdings ending with reservations that were far from their original lands and exposed to harsh conditions on those reservations. The author’s writing style is engaging and it reads more like a novel than a dry history recitation. I strongly recommend this book.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog.

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hyde does a very nice job of chronicling the fascinating yet complicated history of mixed indigenous/white families from 1670-1900s, and translating this story (very difficult to read at times) to the modern day in an balanced and objective way. It was very interesting to learn how many early French and British settlers to North America (and later white Americans) married and had children with indigenous women (and much less commonly, indigenous men married and had children with white settlers). These bonds and mixed families provided several key advantages to white settlers, but as the 1700s and 1800s wore on, the persistence and legacy of these unions became fraught.

Further reading:
Fortune's Bazaar: The Making of Hong Kong by Vaudine England (2023) -- a parallel history of intermarriage and creation of Eurasian families in Hong Kong

[Helena Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

great history following mixed descent families of Native Americans and White settlers. really interesting how they moved from being necessary to being a hinderance to being erased.

very dense. lots of repeating names made following across 150 years a little confusing but overall good

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extensive timeline of finely researched family relationships, conflicts, alliances, commerce, sweeping change, misguided and cruel practices and atrocities, deep cultural ties and resilience.

[Sharlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a monumental read. We know so little about our history, especially the mixed-descent people and the huge role they played in making the American West. Remember that Michigan was once "the West" so there's lots to learn here about our state's history. For instance, a description of how the Ojibwe & Ondawa leaders played a trick at Fort Michilimackinac in June of 1763, killed 16 soldiers, and held the fort for more than a year. Names we are all familiar with such as Schoolcraft come to life. At 342 pages plus 97 of Notes and Index it can take time to read. But it's well worth the time in bringing to life a greatly unknown part of our history and how race and mixed marriages have been a problem in this country for a long time.

[Shrike58 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not quite the book that I thought it was going to be when I started it. For one, I had forgotten that back in 2017 I had read the author's "Empires, Nations and Families," which treads over much the same ground. That said, this is a better treatment of many of the same themes, only from the perspective of what Native American women brought to the the marriages of convenience that Hyde is writing about. Having spent thirty years as an archivist in the employ of the U.S. federal government, I appreciate that, for many people, family and personal relationships are their wedge to understanding history. That said, the further Hyde gets away from writing about the pre-1860s fur trade, the shallower this book seems. Still, since I'm not really the audience for this book, this can be taken to being petty carping.

Apart from that, I would have preferred to see a proper bibliography, though that might not be the author's decision. Less good is that when Hyde cites documents from the U.S. National Archives she is somewhat inconsistent in doing so. You might say that this is another case where I'm being over-critical, but one of the annoyances of my old job were bad citations, and I expect better from a full professor; particularly when the agency offers a 30-page pamphlet on how to consistently explain what records one has used.

I was going to be charitable and round up to 4.0 from 3.5, but after sleeping on it I'm no longer feeling charitable!

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone looking for a deeply-researched and accessibly written addition to the history of the American west. Intermarriage and cooperation among American tribal members and tribes with French and British fur trappers, their children, and the attitudinal changes toward these people as the rush by American settlers for land, furs, and gold swelled is a story that hasn’t been told. It is a story of before-unseen strength and resilience among indigenous people on this continent, their will to adapt and succeed in this white man’s inundation without giving up who they are, their culture, their livelihoods, and most important, their families—mixed or not. The fact that it ended so horribly for so many does not deny that by hanging on tooth and nail, these mixed-descendants helped many American Indian nations to survive and, to some extent, recover, despite the mighty efforts of white settlers, American government and armies, deadly boarding schools and the “religious” who ran them, to exterminate every Indian they could find. Highly recommended.

[Melarie Wheat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the relationship of mixed descendant families to their tribes and the white communities from 1600-s1900s. Initially European men marrying Native women was seen as acceptable and even a necessary part of the fur trade so trappers could build familial relationships with tribes. It was especially interesting to see how native women helped in the fur trade industry. As the years went on however mixed families relationships with their tribes and the white community became more complicated and less acceptable. As others have pointed out, it was hard to keep the family straight, but over a 300 year that is to be expected as there were many descendants from those mixed families and it didn't really bother me.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly informative read; my perspective will forever be changed about this topic. The author was able to present a ton of facts/info in a very personal way. I could probably talk for hours about everything I learned in this book. Such an important piece of US history that simply isn’t taught (and “piece” is putting it lightly).

Side note- I’ll continue to be amazed by the amount of research (and sorting of said research) that goes into books like these.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very interesting insights into native Americans and their treatment by and of European settlers. I am not certain what possessed me to pick it up as it is pretty much another story of the litany of woes suffered by indigenous people.

[Jamie Hare · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating book full of well researched information that was written in an unfortunate way.

[Yasmeen Mughal]

research for work

[Lucie Montes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, with any book about Native peoples, we already know how it will end—somewhere between badly and catastrophically. War, disease, alcohol, and finally removal, were all unrelenting.
This book examines how the French intermarried with First Nations people and how both sides welcomed it in order to increase their wealth through the fur trade. The Indians needed to increase the size of their families which were dwindling in number.
It is a meticulously researched historical account, full of minutia and the battles between the French and the British, the British and the Americans, the Indians and the Americans, the Indians and the French and British, and the various Indian tribes battling each other. How did anyone survive? I gave up halfway through and skipped to the end.
My own daughter-in-law comes from a French-Canadian family on her mother’s side, and I can see the features of mixed ancestry in her and now in my granddaughter, who has Indian ancestry from my side as well, so I found this book especially interesting for that reason. We are all Americans.

[meg]

DNFing partly because it is boring and partly because the narrators voice is driving me insane

[Gaby Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mixed marriage between settlers (mostly fur traders) and indigenous that worked really well until it didn't over the course of one century.

[William Hubbartt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Congratulations to Professor Hyde for providing a needed perspective to the events that shaped the development of the United States and the revealing the impact of the Manifest Destiny goals of our country's leadership. There are two sides to every story and Dr. Hyde reveals a third perspective, looking at the events of the 1700-1800s through the eyes of those mixed descent individuals and families whose stories received little or no play in the history lessons and books. As a writer of western fiction, I now have a new authoritative resource for adding realism to my western stories. Thank you, Dr. Hyde.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covering the 1600's to early 1900's, this well-researched book explores the role which the mixed-race people played in settling the west. They were primarily made up of Canadian and American trappers with native Indian women who integrated themselves into various tribes across North America as explained so well by the author.

This is a must-read book by anyone interested in historical documents. It covers some of the worst parts of our history and some of the greatest challenges communities have faced.

As native Nebraskan's, we actually grew up in southern Nebraska and were exposed to parts of the Indian territories and were familiar with some of the Santee and Ponca Reservations located along the Niobrara River and the Winnebago Reservation along the Missouri River. They were educational experiences for us, resulting in a desire to educate American Indian children of their heritage and to pursue a life and future of their choice.

As teenagers, our parents owned a second home in central Wisconsin on one of the deepest, largest freshwater lakes in the state. We learned the history of the Indian names and loved to water and ice fish, water ski and ice skate the lake, boat, canoe, swimming, bonfires, cook-outs, and winter races across icy Green Lake imagining we were doing much the same as those who founded the area.

Having lived on two of the Great Lakes in the 1970's was fascinating to read the history as the mixed races moved through the area, which at the time, was considered the wild west! We enjoyed the Tall Sailing Ships with their young crews from abroad, the variety of ethnic neighbors with their cultures and histories, foods, religions, languages, music, interests, and so much more.

This book captures people as people, trying to survive in new environments. It is well written and historically accurate. One book I highly recommend for 2022.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of the turmoil of the past 5 or so centuries in North American endured by Native Peoples and European interlopers revolves around procreation and the "mixing of blood". It centers on the illusory and absurdly imprecise notion of “mixed descent”.

In Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West, Anne F. Hyde provides an exhaustive account of five mixed-descent families. Their lives span from the late 1600s to the early 1900s. The people are Indigenous and French and English immigrants. The European interlopers are motivated by commerce like fur trade. Hyde chronicles family relationships, ever-changing alliances, violent conflicts, failed governmental policies, broken treaties and agreements, and ever-evolving cultural norms.

The author takes the reader along with generations of Native and European families who followed the fur trade from the Great Lakes to Astoria. The book is ponderous and repetitive at times. It was challenging for me to keep track of family names and lineages. But on balance it was an illuminating and satisfying read. It reminded me that for centuries few of us have recognized that our species is, by definition, the mixing of blood, yet the deleterious notion of race continues to plague us by retarding human progress.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at a history that hasn't been told on the scale it deserves. It was fascinating to see the history of North America play out through the lens of the experiences of 5 families. Even if the families weren't of mixed descent like they are in this book that would be an unusual and interesting way of framing history. However, the addition of the fact that these families were comprised of indigenous peoples and European settlers makes the framing of history around their lives that much more the interesting.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hyde ‘vividly combined the panoramic and the particular’ in Born because she effectively melded her skills as an academic historian with nuanced, textured, in depth storytelling. These talents were evident in a number of ways.

First, and foremost, the 76 pages of notes provide testament to the vast amount of research which she did. Although there was no bibliography, primary and secondary sources were fully described and sometimes discussed in the notes at the end of the book. Additionally, a 19 page index was provided for readers who might wish to review a person or facts upon having completed the book.

Second, the author organized and presented the information in a highly systematic way. Chapters focused on relatively brief periods of time. They were subdivided into sections which allowed her to describe how each of the five families lived and tried to deal with the challenges they faced. As they settled in different parts of the country the nature of their lives, their relationships with their fellow tribesmen and other tribes in the area, and their relationships with EuroAmerican settlers were different. Over the course of the book Hyde pointed out how these relationships changed over time as the political, economic, and sociocultural dynamics evolved.

Third, her prose was largely direct and quite readable. Brief quotations were inserted into the narrative in a timely way. Also, the 16 pages of illustrations and 9 pages of maps enhanced my ability to visualize and thus grasp what she was communicating. Unfortunately, it was frustrating that some of the places discussed were not on the maps.

There are two other relative flaws with Born. First, as these families grew it became difficult for me to keep the various people clear in my mind. Perhaps family trees might have made this easier.

Second, the last two chapters covering the late 19th and 20th centuries lacked the depth that characterized the book up to then. Allotment, residential boarding schools, marriage and citizenship laws implemented in the late 19th/early 20th centuries were complex processes that were ultimately highly traumatic for these families in particular and Native Americans more generally. Hyde did not give them the same degree of attention she did regarding the issues in the years leading up to that time.

For those interested in this topic there are other noteworthy mixed descent families. For example, Chief John Ross was only 1/8 Cherokee but he was a formidable foe to Andrew Jackson and others who forcibly removed the tribe from the SE USA in the 1830’s. He then advocated for the welfare of his people in what was known as Indian Territory over the next 30 years.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Josph LaFlesche was a mixed descent Chief of the Omaha nation who was only briefly mentioned in Born. His daughters went on to be important in their own right. Whereas Susette advocated for Native American rights in the 1870’s, Susan became the first Native American woman to practice EuroAmerican medicine.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Joe Stack · Rating 2 out of 5]

By focusing on intermarriage of Native Americans and Non-natives beginning with the 17th Century fur traders, the author gives readers a unique and overlooked aspect of North American history. Serving as a bridge between Indigenous tribes and Europeans & Americans, mixed-heritage families were an important part of the commercial enterprises that benefited both groups and were intermediaries when prejudice and racial policies turned against tribes.

Integral to this history are the enterprises of fur and bison, the activities associated with the Santa Fe Trail, war, forced removal, and broken treaties. The breadth and depth of the author’s research fills this book with more detail about the generational relationships and business dealings than this reader anticipated. While the writing is clear, at times it did not hold my interest. Fortunately, the introduction to each chapter provided an overview to each chapter.

This study follows the arc from the acceptance of the mixed-heritage people to their non-acceptance. Westward expansion and evangelical Protestantism brought changing social norms. While the mixed-heritage continued to be influential - for good and bad - their lives became more precarious and their stories more tangled. Thus, as the book progresses, the experiences of the tribes and the mixed-descendants gets more disturbing to read. But, their perseverance inspiring.

One of the more interesting activities mention in this history is the “Half-breed Army” and the movement to establish a separate Native American nation as “a haven” for Indian families.

The chapter covering the Civil War (Chap. 10) is a gripping, shake your head account of the harrowing experience the Indians and the mixed-heritage families endured.

Some notes I took:

Intermarriage was commonly accepted, but along with a conflicted mindset (to this reader’s thinking). Early on, it was acceptable for White men to marry Native women. It would, as Thomas Jefferson put it, keep “American blood vigorous” and “we shall all be Americans.” (p. 125). On the other hand, White women marrying Native men “stepped over the lines of power and gender.” (p. 125)

With the spread of evangelical Protestantism, “converting Native Americans to Protestant Christianity would be seen as essential to American expansion.” (p. 126). Now Native Americans in general and mixed-blood families were considered “shiftless and barbaric.” (p. 128). The author makes clear,

“ . . . neither prices nor warfare nor drought brought ruin to Cheyenne villages. It was Christian missionaries, bellwethers of the ambitious nation, who carried ideas that unraveled lives on the southern Plains. They challenged the blood mixing and kin making that characterized the edges of Indian country from Minnesota to Mexico.” (p. 161)

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sex has stunning generative power … power to make kin, blend villages, and build clans". Mixed marriages at first were an asset, a business necessity, but by the early 1800s it was a liability as the new United States enshrined removal policies and racism into its ethos and laws. The white men who married into native families that Hyde profiled (some with unfortunate family names like Bent and Drips) ran the gamut from deeply responsible to downright exploitative. If there ever was support for intermarriage among white Americans in power, such as the U.S. founders and presidents Hyde mentioned, it could not have lasted very long, and probably was mostly theoretical. The evangelical missions, also imbued with racism, only served to put the nail in the coffin of peaceful and respectful coexistence. The book got harder to read as it advanced in time. The worst part to me was the chapter on the 1850s in Kansas and Nebraska; I do remember learning about states coming in as "slave" or "free" states, but do not remember the Native point of view in that history. "Through military conquest, land theft, and simple murder, the Kansas-Nebraska Act delivered land to White migrants when not one acre was actually available. Only violence and a complete disregard for law made Kansas and Nebraska into White settler states."

A surprise to me was, besides encouraging strategic intermarriage, all the other attempts at assimilation on the part of Native nations, though it was never enough for the whites. Another surprise was the use of bison leather for industrial pulleys. In the acknowledgements I learned that Hyde had to cut quite a bit of this interesting history to get it down to a 340 page book. The maps and photos helped a lot, still there was a great deal of history I didn't know, and I had to fill in the best I could. I had to create a timeline and kind of a chart of the families she profiled to help me navigate through the centuries she covered. The book was well footnoted but there was no bibliography. I needed a couple of titles to help me get the background and would have been curious to see what she recommended.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

A truly excellent history. The narration is excellent: clear and, ultimately, unnoticeable - drawing attention to the words rather than their reader.

Having a few family trees on hand would not have been remiss - listing particularly made it difficult to differentiate between similarly named sons and fathers

Also, particularly in the beginning, the author is awkward in bringing in the academic fad of identifying “power” in situations (native women’s power in engaging in sexual relationships with non-native men which bind them to their communities and give access to non-native economies etc). Later this same concept is still noted, but much more fluidly.

This is an honest history, in which cruelties are made plain and rationales are explained, but not precisely justified. The Ojibwa and Cheyenne come off well, as do the French for the most part, but the United States, the Iroquois, Lakota, and several other nations do not. Wars between Indian nations were more brutal than I had known. Kidnapping children to boost the population of the attacking community was common. And the “twin relics of barbarism”, polygamy and slavery, were widespread among Indians, the former even into the 20th century.

In fact, it is not noted by the book, but that dynamic, especially practiced by European descent traders married to several Native women, may have been a factor harming the integrity of Native cultures, as more men lacked potential spouses and could only seek a social position for themselves on the battlefield.

Inspiring a desire to further study the subject is the sign of an excellent history, and this is no doubt one.

[Matthew LaPine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The initial premise of this book is stated in its subtitle. The book follows a handful of mixed-descent families in the American West, through a number of generations, from roughly the late 1700's to the early 1900's. The author must have spent a tremendous amount of time gathering facts from census, marriage, and myriad other records, to tell us those family stories.

Along the way, we learn numerous details of how indigenous peoples were forced from their land, disrespected by settlers, unprotected by the US, and bit by bit, stripped of their land, their possessions, and their citizenship, by legislatures, Congress and even the Supreme Court. It filled in a lot of gaps for me, despite having read other related tomes like The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present and These Truths: A History of the United States, which also provide a great deal of history we didn't get taught in school.

This is a painful book to read, but one that most people should read, to better understand how poorly people were treated in the past, and to gain resolve to do better in the future.

[Sarah Bodaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was ever so much better than I expected. Aside from a quick clarification at the beginning of the book, of words historically used versus words that are in vogue now, in reference to Native Americans, it was a breath of fresh air. Not woke, not pushing reparations, not one whiff or hint of political ideology, or anything. Just. History. Refreshing, really.
Within the first few chapters, the simple explanations of “why” behind Native marriage and family customs was so helpful. It is very easy to look at other cultures from the frame of our own culture’s history, standards, and religious backgrounds, and then wonder why other cultures aren’t acting by our standards. Well….their whole frame of mind and the base for their lifestyle is different. It was just intriguingly eye-opening.
The book continues and follows several key families through the years of westward expansion, the Civil War, and beyond, as they navigated the political and societal changes of the day. All in all, engaging and interesting. I enjoyed it.

[Riet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een heel interessant deel van de Amerikaanse geschiedenis wat ik niet kende. Tevens ook weer een heel nare kijk op de houding van de witte Amerikanen tegenover hun Indiaanse landgenoten. Toen in ieder geval het westen van de huidige VS nog min of meer ongerept was, waren daar Europese "trappers", die vanwege de bonthandel kwamen jagen, vaak in samenwerking met de indianen. Daar kwamen veel huwelijken tussen die trappers en Indiaanse vrouwen uit voort. Over die mensen en hun nakomelingen gaat dit boek. Aan de hand van 5 families laat de schrijfster zien hoe langzamerhand de Indianen werden verdreven en deels uitgeroeid. Zelfs hun reservaten werden steeds kleiner en ingenomen door de witte Amerikanen. Het opkomende racisme met zijn z.g. wetenschappelijke onderbouwing wordt goed beschreven. Een heel interessant boek. Gee 5 sterren,omdat het af en toe wat warrig overkomt. Dat ligt ook aan de enorme hoeveelheid namen van personen en stammen.

[David Dickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A History of marriage between Whites and Native Americans from the days of the French Fur Traders to modern times. A well researched book on notable families in the Fur Trade and Trading business in the Great Lakes area, the Great Plains, and the Pacific Northwest. It shows how a mixture of business and families from different cultures were able to form bonds that allowed a strong relationship to endure through many generations. Later in the 1800's as the Whites moved in and took their lands they were moved to reservations and lost their livelihood. Most mixed breeds stayed on the Reservations where they had to endure racism from the outside world as most towns in the West did not want them until the 1970's when things finally changed. A very worthy book to read and learn of a little known history.

[John Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting history that is both very broad and very intimate in that it looks at 5 mixed-race families and their descendants over 250 years from 1670-1920 and from Saulte Saint Marie to the Oregon coast. She shows how mixed-descent families were instrumental in helping to develop the fur trade in a less racially segregated society but how that changed in the American West as the country became more and more racially segregated and mixed-race families had to become go-betweens for the different racial groups. She also showed how some chose to identify themselves as Indians, while others chose to identify as White. The book gave me a different sense of the American and Canadian West and North's economic development and the integral role this group played in each era. A very interesting history that tells the story in a very different way.