Search  for anything...

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land

  • Based on 90 reviews
Condition: New
Checking for product changes
$16.00 Why this price?
Save $16.00 was $32.00

Buy Now, Pay Later


As low as $4 / mo
  • – 4-month term
  • – No impact on credit
  • – Instant approval decision
  • – Secure and straightforward checkout

Ready to go? Add this product to your cart and select a plan during checkout. Payment plans are offered through our trusted finance partners Klarna, PayTomorrow, Affirm, Afterpay, Apple Pay, and PayPal. No-credit-needed leasing options through Acima may also be available at checkout.

Learn more about financing & leasing here.

Free shipping on this product

30-day refund/replacement

To qualify for a full refund, items must be returned in their original, unused condition. If an item is returned in a used, damaged, or materially different state, you may be granted a partial refund.

To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.

View our full returns policy here.


Availability: In Stock.
Fulfilled by Amazon

Arrives Saturday, May 10
Order within 13 hours and 33 minutes
Available payment plans shown during checkout

Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLERThe New Yorker’s Best Books of 2024 • A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year • An NPR 2024 “Books We Loved” Pick • An Esquire Best Book of the Year • A Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year • A Kirkus Best Nonfiction Book of 2024Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard First Book Prize • Winner of the Oklahoma Historical Society’s E. E. Dale Award • Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction • Shortlisted for MPIBA’s Reading the West Award for Nonfiction • Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize • Finalist for the ABA Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts • Finalist for the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize • Runner-up for the Libby Award for Best Adult Nonfiction"Impeccably researched. . . . A fascinating book and an important one.”—Washington Post“A brilliant, kaleidoscopic debut. . . . A showstopper.”—Publishers Weekly, starred reviewA powerful work of reportage and American history that braids the story of the forced removal of Native Americans onto treaty lands in the nation’s earliest days, and a small-town murder in the 1990s that led to a Supreme Court ruling reaffirming Native rights to that land more than a century later.Before 2020, American Indian reservations made up roughly 55 million acres of land in the United States. Nearly 200 million acres are reserved for National Forests—in the emergence of this great nation, our government set aside more land for trees than for Indigenous peoples.In the 1830s Muscogee people were rounded up by the US military at gunpoint and forced into exile halfway across the continent. At the time, they were promised this new land would be theirs for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. But that promise was not kept. When Oklahoma was created on top of Muscogee land, the new state claimed their reservation no longer existed. Over a century later, a Muscogee citizen was sentenced to death for murdering another Muscogee citizen on tribal land. His defense attorneys argued the murder occurred on the reservation of his tribe, and therefore Oklahoma didn’t have the jurisdiction to execute him. Oklahoma asserted that the reservation no longer existed. In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court settled the dispute. Its ruling that would ultimately underpin multiple reservations covering almost half the land in Oklahoma, including Nagle’s own Cherokee Nation. Here Rebecca Nagle recounts the generations-long fight for tribal land and sovereignty in eastern Oklahoma. By chronicling both the contemporary legal battle and historic acts of Indigenous resistance, By the Fire We Carry stands as a landmark work of American history. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed and the Native-led battle for justice that has shaped our country. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper (September 10, 2024)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063112043


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 49


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.13 x 9 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #38,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #9 in Native American Demographic Studies #21 in Indigenous History #41 in Native American History (Books)


#9 in Native American Demographic Studies:


#21 in Indigenous History:


Frequently asked questions

If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Saturday, May 10

Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.

To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.

View our full returns policy here.

  • Klarna Financing
  • Affirm Pay in 4
  • Affirm Financing
  • Afterpay Financing
  • PayTomorrow Financing
  • Financing through Apple Pay
Leasing options through Acima may also be available during checkout.

Learn more about financing & leasing here.

Top Amazon Reviews


  • Fantastic book, a must read!
I just finished reading ‘By the Fire We Carry’ by Rebecca Nagle. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down, fantastic book! Nagle ties historical atrocities to current events perhaps better than any other author I’ve read. I have followed her work as a journalist and I expected it to be good but it was so much better than I expected. One insight I want to share because it kind of blew my mind. Anyone who knows anything about Federal Indian Law in the US knows that it is incredibly confusing and self-contradicting from beginning to end. Nagle quoted legal scholar Maggie Blackhawk when she described it as a battlefield. It is not a coherent set of laws, it is a written record of wins and losses as Native people battle their colonizers in the courts of the conquerors. She also explains that when Native people fight in the courts the biggest obstacle is actually ignorance of the law, including amongst judges, and extending to the top. It is rare for even a Supreme Court Justice to have any real familiarity with Indian Law, and their ignorance shows, time after time. There is so much more in the book! Nagle is a descendant of Cherokee leaders Major Ridge and John Ridge. The story she tells is actually about the Creek, or Muscogee, Nation, but it parallels Cherokee history and Nagle weaves back and forth between describing the political battles behind recent Supreme Court decisions and telling the story of her own ancestors as they grappled with the colonial aggression that would ultimately lead to removal and the Trail of Tears. I can not recommend this book highly enough ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2024 by J. Hurd

  • The heartbreaking truth about the legacy of injustice imposed on our Native American communities.
A stunning achievement in research, storytelling and writing. One cannot walk away from the reading feeling hopeful about the future of Indigenous rights, nor for the future of the United States to withstand the forces of corruption, greed, hypocrisy and lies inherent in our history and society, but one can take away a profound admiration for the capacity of the human spirit to persevere for righteousness, to endure, to seek justice, and to hold on to what is morally valuable for future generations. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2024 by Leslie Simmons

  • Maybe the Paperback Version is Better
The book I received was torn at the top of the cover, I did not order a used copy.
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2025 by Sharon Sharon

  • Finally a piece of trustworthy journalism
I am a First Nation descendent. The reading was one of the few times I have chosen to delve into this background history from the point of view of someone who is like me, a descendent. An outstanding read.
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2025 by Claudia

  • So good
When the history of this country is taught in our schools, it should include the histories explained in this book. Until we come to terms with all the evil that the so-called United States was built on, we can never hope to improve.
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2025 by Jared Cohee

  • Awesome
Awesome
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2025 by Sue

  • Impactful
This book somehow found a way to weave together a murder mystery, history and modern day court decisions into an important story about how Native people in Oklahoma and in the US have been impacted by many different conditions over time. Nagle helps to highlight specific individuals and tribes and is able to tell their story in a way this is engaging and important. There is a lot that was not known behind the scenes of the recent Supreme court decisions that is brought to light and the decisions are well placed in a historical context throughout the book. It was a hard book to put down and it is a great read for anyone! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2025 by Bama Fan

  • Critical Investigation of Native American Land Rights
This is an excellent book and follows the trials of Native Americans who have been promised much and given little. It traces a legal battle that ended in the Supreme Court during Trump's first term. It was interesting to learn that much of Oklahoma is really located on a reservation.
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2024 by L. Fitzharris

Can't find a product?

Find it on Amazon first, then paste the link below.