A preface to a book can be many things. It may offer a roadmap to a book’s contents. Often it serves as an opportunity to acknowledge and thank the many hands that contribute to a scholarly production: archivists, librarians, colleagues, students, editors, family, and friends. It is also an opportunity to establish a pedigree, if you will, an intellectual family tree that can situate the new text in its rightfully identified place. Daniel Usner’s preface to Weaving Alliances with Other Women does all that. In the opening pages Clara Sue Kidwell reminds us that Native American women’s stories are often overshadowed by their mythologized past. Lucy Murphy’s insights into the acts of mediation and negotiation by Metis women provided opportunities to improve the conditions of their communities. Devon Mihesuah challenges us to remember the absence of Native American women’s voices in chapter after chapter of historical scholarship. If that is...

You do not currently have access to this content.