For me, this book by an emerging scholar represents the most compelling, inspired, and rigorous research in the discipline of history today. I hope that my students and colleagues will build on its methods to center Native voices and collaborative practices in historical research. Although it covers histories from hundreds of years ago, it is future oriented in its vision of power and nationhood in the gulf south today. Always missing home, the book also brings joy in its beautiful, lucid descriptions of the waterways, landscapes, and communities of coastal Louisiana.