Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest

“Compelling. . . . Offers a highly readable account of vital women’s roles in the widespread Indian settlements of the Ohio River valley.”—Journal of American History

“Clearly written, well researched, and intellectually engaging. . . . Not only does the author restore the voices of Indigenous women . . . she also challenges persuasively the master narrative that has justified the excesses of American expansion.”—Western Historical Quarterly

“Susan Sleeper-Smith’s pioneering research on the fur trade and American Indian women has proved to be . . . influential. Her new book builds on her expertise with impressive interdisciplinary research, evocative writing, and ambitious sweep.”—Journal of Southern History

“Long-awaited. . . . Sleeper-Smith’s important new work reminds us how much our historical knowledge relies on unexamined non-Native assumptions about Native gender constructions and how very differently Native history appears when Native constructions of gender are employed in their stead.”—American Historical Review

“Without question, Sleeper-Smith’s contribution to indigenous women’s history and regional history during this period remains invaluable. Her archival sources, including archeological data and environmental studies, are expansive. She argues clearly and consistently that indigenous women were pivotal to the prosperity and success of Native communities in the region.”—Indiana Magazine of History

“The stakes of Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest are many and its interventions significant. . . . The work to disentangle Indigenous lifeways from explanatory systems imbricated in expansionist policies and colonialist historiography continues, and Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest offers a set of practices that suggests one way forward.”—Eighteenth-Century Fiction

“In this deeply researched and richly argued book, Susan Sleeper-Smith upends [the] narrative of embattled survivors and replaces it with a convincing depiction of a prosperous and wealthy multiethnic Indigenous world in the Ohio River Valley that was thriving in spite of imperial contests and invasions.”—NAIS

“In overlooking the vital role of women in creating and sustaining Ohio Valley Indians' rich agricultural system, historians have ignored what George Washington knew all too well. Starting with his 1791 order to imprison Indian women and children, Susan Sleeper-Smith uncovers the productive village life that supported prosperous commerce with colonial traders and enabled resistance to U.S. encroachment. In-depth archival research, careful attention to Indigenous knowledge, and innovative use of environmental evidence make her book a virtuoso interdisciplinary study and a stunning historical revelation.” — Daniel H. Usner Jr., Vanderbilt University

“An eye-opening, revisionist exposé of American expansion, Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest lucidly narrates how the Ohio River valley’s thriving Native world of agricultural productivity, fur-trading acumen, and lavish material culture fell victim to a covetous, militant aggression as Americans took possession.” — Nancy Shoemaker, University of Connecticut

“Weaving together material culture, archaeology, and far-flung archives, Sleeper-Smith draws an engrossing portrait of the pan-Indian world of the Ohio Valley — created, not by military and political leaders, but rather by women whose agrarian, artisanal, and commercial labors transformed it into an economically bounteous place along la belle rivière — before its calculated plunder and destruction at the direction of the U.S. government.” — Juliana Barr, Duke University