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

Finalist for the 2023 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize A new way of looking at the American West emerges in this history of the mixing and marrying of Indigenous people and settlers. [Hydes] carefully wrought portrait of five families reveals the peculiar challenges faced by these quintessential people of the border. In this ambitious and utterly successful book, historian Anne F. Hyde has rewritten the story of the American West.&This book is a tour de force. The stories here are poignantoften sad and disturbing, but also inspiring and always thought-provoking.&In short, this is western history retold with families and women at the heart of the narrative. Through stories that are vivid, humane, and powerful, Anne F. Hyde deftly explores families that mixed native and settler cultures in the heart of North America. Sometimes coercive, but often mutual, these intimate relations helped diverse peoples coexist in American borderlands. Anne F. Hyde writes compelling, boots-on-the-ground history, telling stories that are personal, poignant, and powerful. This is the way people really lived. Anne F. Hyde deftly reconstructs personal lives and relationships, charting the shift from an Indigenous and fur-trading world where marriage, kinship, and community building transcended racial differences to a world dominated by race and divided by blood. A stunningly rich history of family and survival in the midst of war, forced removal, broken treaties, and racist policies. Powerful, engrossing, and humane. A tour de forcepoignant and beautifully written. Hyde tells stories that are gripping, tragic, inspiring, and, as she shows, essential to understanding the history of this vast region. Anne F. Hydes gripping account of mixed-descent families shows how tangled the real story of this country actually is. It puts our simple stories to shame. [A] sweeping history&.Hydes meticulous research and lucid prose bring her subjects and their complex worl¢