Prior to the publication of Ryan Hall’s Beneath the Backbone of the World, scholars and students interested in the history of the Blackfoot and the fur trade between 1720 and 1870 needed to consult the important works of many authors: John Ewers, Hugh Dempsey, David Wishart, John Milloy, Lesley Wischmann, and Ted Binnema. Employing crisp prose and engaging vignettes, Hall crafts a coherent and interesting story of how the Blackfoot “survived, suffered, and prospered” on the northwestern plains (10). All the while, he does so by emphasizing the centrality of place in Blackfoot culture and identity. Beneath the Backbone of the World refers to where the trickster and creator Náápi fashioned the world—leaving it replete with landmarks and sites possessing spiritual and pedagogical power—before retreating to the lofty peaks again to watch over his people for the rest of time.
Hall’s main argument is that during the eighteenth and...
