Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People

by Elizabeth A. Fenn

A historical study of the Mandan people, a Plains Indian group indigenous to the Upper Missouri and who were encountered by the Lewis & Clark expedition in 1804-5. Fenn pieces together their history from the 16th century onwards, using archival scraps and archaeological evidence—”‘a mosaic,” she explains, “pieced together out of stones from many quarries.” The Pulitzer Prize jury described it as “an engrossing, original narrative.”