Red Earth Nation

“In addition to contributing a new history of a uniquely situated Native community in the Midwest, this Meskwaki-centric history of federal Indian policy reveals the interplay between powerful external forces and Indigenous adaptation, improvisation, and self-determination.”—Larry Nesper, author of “Our Relations . . . the Mixed Bloods”: Indigenous Transformation and Dispossession in the Western Great Lakes
 

“In a meticulously researched, thoughtful, respectful, and smoothly flowing narrative, Eric Zimmer tells the powerful and inspiring story of a Native nation’s struggle to reclaim its land and secure its future. A model of publicly engaged scholarship of the highest order and a testament to the Meskwaki people’s resiliency and determination to control their destiny, Red Earth Nation deserves the widest possible readership.” — Mark Fiege, Professor of History and Wallace Stegner Chair in Western American Studies, Montana State University and author of Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States
 

“Red Earth Nation tells how the Meskwaki Nation strategically expressed and enacted sovereignty through time and from its unique relationship to land. Eric Zimmer provides a meticulously detailed history of the Meskwaki Nation, guided by and in dialogue with contemporary Meskwaki people. This work of community-engaged scholarship is an important contribution to Indigenous history and Native studies.” — Clint Carroll author of Roots of Our Renewal: Ethnobotany and Cherokee Environmental Governance
 

“Eric Steven Zimmer delivers a masterful chronicle of the Meskwaki Nation’s enduring resilience and its centuries-long quest to reclaim its Iowa homeland. Zimmer’s captivating narrative weaves together the tribe’s strategic fight for land rights and self-determination, illuminating the indomitable spirit of the Red Earth People. This impeccably researched work stands as a transformative testament to Indigenous resurgence and a powerful triumph of historical storytelling.”—Doug Kiel, Associate Professor of History, Northwestern University