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

Elizabeth A. Fenn’s book is a history of the Mandan, a Native American people of what is now North Dakota. The title reflects the fact that their homeland lay close to the geographical centre of North America, which matched their own creation stories placing them at the centre of the world.

Fenn shows how this gave the Mandan a central political and economic position long before their well-known meeting with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. She draws on archaeology, ethnography, climate and disease research, and on her own travels in the region.