My Norwegian grandmother told me, “We stole the land from the Indians.” As I later investigated this claim, I discovered that her immigration was tied deeply to the dispossession of Dakota people, on an Indian reservation. This book explores how that happened, and with what consequences.
Oxford University Press, 2013
REVIEWS
“A first-rate history."—Walter Nugent, author of Into the West: The Story of Its People
“Sensitive, multifaceted, gracefully written portrait. . . I'm not surprised she received a postcard from one of her interview subjects saying, 'Thanks for making our lives more interesting.' Readers of this book will feel the same." —Adam Hochschild, author of Bury the Chains and American Midnight
“Entangled with this place by her own family's past, Karen Hansen reconstructs an immensely complicated moment through the lenses of family history, land, citizenship, and culture." —Jean O'Brien, Professor of History, University of Minnesota
“Hansen's study links Scandinavian immigrant history and American Indian studies in ways never before attempted. . . . deserves a firm position in the canon of American Studies." —Oyvind T. Gulliksen, Telemark University College, Norway
"One of the most innovative books on the Great Plains since Pekka Hämäläinen's Comanche Empire. . . . gives voice to those who lived together on Spirit Lake." —Mikal Eckstrom, Great Plains Quarterly
AWARDS
Chaudhuri Prize, Western Association of Women Historians
“Book of the Month,” Center for Great Plains Studies
Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize Finalist
Furthermore Publishing Grant Award Winner