Synopses & Reviews
The Lake Huron area of the Upper Great Lakes region, an area spreading across vast parts of the United States and Canada, has been inhabited by the Anishnaabeg for millennia. Since their first contact with Europeans around 1600, the Anishnaabeg have interacted withand#8212;and struggled againstand#8212;changing and shifting European empires and the emerging nation-states that have replaced them. Through their cultural strength, diplomatic acumen, and a remarkable knack for adapting to change, the Anishnaabeg of the Lake Huron Borderlands have reemerged as a strong and vital people, fully in charge of their destiny in the twenty-first century.and#160;Winner of the North American Indian Prose Award, this first comprehensive cross-border history of the Anishnaabeg provides an engaging account of four hundred years of their life in the Lake Huron area, showing how they have been affected by European contact and trade. Three Fires Unity examines how shifting European politics and, later, the imposition of the Canadaand#8211;United States border running through their homeland, affected them and continues to do so today. In looking at the cultural, social, and political aspects of this borderland contact, Phil Bellfy sheds light on how the Anishnaabeg were able to survive and even thrive over the centuries in this intensely contested region.
About the Author
Phil Bellfy is a founding member of the American Indian Studies Program at Michigan State University and is an associate professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures. He is the founder and director of the Center for the Study of Indigenous Border Issues and the author of Indians and Other Misnomers: A Cross-Reference Dictionary of the People, Persons, and Places of Native North America.