New Titles
In Order That Justice May Be Done: The Legal Struggle of the Turtle Mountain Band of Pembina Chippewa, 1795-1905
Tribal lands in tribal hands restrained the pursuit of profit. When the cultural identity of the Turtle Mountain Band of Pembina Chippewa was challenged by European Americans—who conceived of progress in terms of cultivated farmland—a tribal-federal conundrum occurred. Historian John M. Shaw untangles the culturally and legally contested concepts of land and its uses and ownership, providing a dynamic legal genesis of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and their intentional action for change. Shaw presents a crucial analysis of federal policy and Native American resistance.
“Shaw systematically informs the reader of historical context and lays out the complex cultural influences—the nucleus of an emerging nation—of the Pembina Chippewa, providing unique insights into historical, legal, and political struggles. An overarching theme is the contrast and comparison of Indigenous and Western worldviews relative to international diplomacy. Shaw’s laser focus presents a critical and authentic analysis of social, economic, political, and cultural events that enveloped the Pembina Band of Chippewa and the United States of America.”—Les LaFountain, Tribal Educator and Historian; former Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribal Council Representative; former Legislative Assistant to the United States Senate Indian Affairs Committee
“In Order That Justice May Be Done is an excellent history of the struggle experienced by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa to gain recognition as a tribe and to gain control of their homeland. The documented efforts of Chief Little Shell and Attorney John Bottineau deserve to be recognized and understood.”—Carol A. Davis, Senior Associate Tribal Nations Research Group; Turtle Mountain Community College Co-founder and Second Interim/Acting TMCC President
LCCN: 2022951183
ISBN: 978-1-946163-56-1
6" x 9"
440 pp., paperback
black & white photos and maps
bibliography and index
Tribal-Federal Relations | History 19th Century | Indian Reservations—Law and Legislation
About the Author: John M. Shaw grew up where George Washington led the Continental Army across the Delaware River and surprised the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey, on Christmas day, 1776. One of John's earliest childhood memories recalls his parents bundling him up on Christmas mornings to watch the annual reenactment. This tradition sparked his lifelong interest and passion for history, culmininating in an MA in American Indian Studies and a PhD in History, both from The University of Arizona.
In graduate school, a colleague informed John about a compelling microfilm of an eloquent prayer, address, and legal brief on behalf of the Turtle Mountain Band of Pembina Chippewa. Compiled by Métis tribal citizen and attorney John B. Bottineau, these inspiring documents provided a unique Indigenous perspective on the injustices of federal Indian policy. The tribe's legal struggle for land, sovereignty, and justice derived from the power to narrate their own side of the story through articulate chiefs and delegations, confirming that North Dakota's most populace Indigenous community remain a powerful people with a compelling history.
John contributed multiple entries to Making it in America: A Sourcebook on Eminent Ethnic Americans (2000) and The Encyclopedia of United States-American Indian Policy, Relations, and Law (2008), as well as several book reviews for UCLA's American Indian Culture and Research Journal and the New Mexico Historical Review. He has taught Native American and U.S. History courses for the departments of American Indian Studies, American Multicultural Studies, and History at The University of Arizona (1996–2003), Minnesota State University Moorhead (2004–2005), and Portland (Oregon) Community College (2005–present).
Gratitude with Dogs under Stars
Gratitude with Dogs under Starsfeatures selections from Debra Marquart’s three collections of lyric poetry (Small Buried Things, New Rivers Press 2015; From Sweetness, Pearl Editions 2001; and Everything’s a Verb, New Rivers Press 1995) and adds twenty-one new poems to round out the experience. Beginning with the new poems, the collection travels back through Marquart’s illustrious career. Long-time fans and newcomers alike can track the trajectory of this poet laureate’s poetic life thus far—the quiet serenity of walking dogs under a starry sky, the horrors of fracking, the beginnings of a tender relationship at a firing range, reflecting on the follies of a youthful life lived carefree.
Debra Marquart is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts & Sciences and teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University, as well as the Stonecoast Low-Residency MFA Program at University of Southern Maine. Marquart serves as Iowa’s Poet Laureate and the Senior Editor of Flyway: Journal of Writing & Environment. The author of seven books—including the memoirs The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere (Counterpoint 2007) and The Night We Landed on the Moon (North Dakota State University Press 2021)—Marquart has been featured on NPR and the BBC and has received over 50 grants and awards including an NEA Fellowship, a PEN USA Award, a New York Times Editors’ Choice commendation, and Elle Magazine’s Elle Lettres Award. In 2021, Marquart was awarded a Poets Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets. For more information: debramarquart.com
Paperback, 278 pp
BISAC:
- POE024000 Poetry / Women Authors
- POE023040 Poetry / Subjects & Themes / Places
- POE023050 Poetry / Subjects & Themes / Family
- POE005010 Poetry / American / General
History & Memory in German-Russian Country
The Germans from Russia—an agricultural people who settled, survived, and prospered—formed strong ethnic communities where farmers still plant and harvest, the faithful still gather for worship, and the cooks still feed their families from the garden. This is a story of German-Russian persistence on the northern plains and its emergent consciousness—a sort of heritage husbandry—in the late twentieth century.
The Shining Hands of My Ponca Ancestors
In sincere, from-the-heart storytelling, The Shining Hands of My Ponca Ancestors depicts the life of a young, contemporary Ponca, who—with the help of friends, relatives, spirits, and ancestors—is learning what is really possible for him and his tribe and how dramatically different that is from the dominant cultural messaging of his youth. An account of inspiration, ancestor intervention, the indestructible Indigenous core of his Native people, and the immense beauty of an ongoing way of life, Shining Hands is rife with meaning for Native and non-Native readers alike. Viewed through his personal life, Shining Hands is a prayer for the young that they may see their own powerful potential, too.
Tribal History & Culture Series Paperback Set
AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRESALE TO TAX EXEMPT CUSTOMERS ONLY.
Our copyeditors, designers, and marketing teams are working with this project during our summer 2025 season with an anticipated late August, early September 2025 delivery date. We are happy to take presale orders in the meantime, and we will fill your order as soon as copies are available. At this time, the textbooks are available only as complete sets.
The North Dakota Tribal History & Culture book series teaches students about the Indigenous nations that share geography with the state. The goal of the series is for North Dakotans from these nations to explain their cultures in their own words. The books are written by experts, scholars, and Elders from each nation, with review by the North Dakota Tribal College System. The provided content is distributed by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, North Dakota State University Press, and North Dakota Tribal College System. The original books were released from 1995-2002, with the current revised edition released in 2025. The books are used in the 8th grade and high school North Dakota Studies classes, as well as in higher education. The revision was prompted by the passage of North Dakota Senate Bill 2304 in 2021, which mandates that all elementary and secondary public and nonpublic schools include Native American history and culture in their curriculums.
The titles in this five-volume set are:
- History & Culture of the Mandan, Hidatsa, & Sahnish (Arikara)
- History & Culture of the Mni Wakan Oyate Spirit Lake Nation
- History & Culture of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
- History & Culture of the Standing Rock Oyate
- History & Culture of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa
The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate nation (Dakota: Sisíthuŋwaŋ Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ Oyáte) also shares geography with North Dakota. However, the original four History & Culture books did not include a fifth book for Sisseton Wahpeton because Agency Village, its capitol, is outside the state. In North Dakota, the general vicinity around the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation is referred to as "South Dakota."
Printing for this project takes place at the United Tribes Technical College (spiral bound) and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate College (paperback).