“In the heart of North America, the Missouri, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers come together, uniting waters from west, north, and east on a journey to the south. This innovative book examines the history of that region and focuses on its transition from a place of overlapping borderlands to one of oppositional border states. ". . . a fascinating and useful contribution to both Atlantic world and North American West scholarship—a claim certainly few other monographs could make." —H-Atlantic”

“This is western history at its best.”
 — Western Historical Quarterly

“This sophisticated analysis . . . focuses upon the sprawling lands that marked the intersection of the country's three primary rivers—the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri—as well as the diverse peoples who inhabited those lands between 1600 and 1860. . . . Recommended.”
 — Choice

“A real pleasure to read, the book adds considerably to the anthropological discussion about the degree to which invading people are successful in transplanting their culture and the degree to which they are transformed by the new environment and peoples they are invading.”
 — Missouri Historical Review

“A fascinating and useful contribution to both Atlantic world and North American West scholarship—a claim certainly few other monographs could make.”
 — H-Atlantic