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Although coverage chronologically spans from prehistory to the present, the emphasis is on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is written in a readable, flowing manner and is deeply rooted in native traditions and lore. The title is a reference to a message sent by President Andrew Jackson to the Choctaws and Chickasaws indicating that, as a friend, he planned to move the people to the Trans-Mississippi West to “land of their own, which they shall possess as long as grass grows or water runs.”
Dr. Trafzer is the Costo Professor of American Indian Affairs at the University of California Riverside. Raised in Arizona, Clifford Trafzer was born to parents of Wyandot Indian and German-English blood. He earned a B.A. and M.A. in history at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where he also worked as an archivist for Special Collections. He earned a Ph.D. in American History in 1973 with a specialty in American Indian History and the same year became a museum curator for the Arizona Historical Society. Before joining the faculty of the University of California, Riverside in 1991, Trafzer taught at Navajo Community College, Washington State University and San Diego State University.
