This is an extremely thorough history of the Cherokee Nation covering almost 200 years of increasing colonial contact. This addresses not just the history of The Cherokee, but also the Indigenous nations & confederations they traded and squabbled with. As well as the colonial powers who exacerbated existing rifts between Indigenous nations to their own advantage.

This offers a rich history of everyday life in the Cherokee nation through the years. Much of this covered history I was completely unfamiliar with. I had an opportunity to learn about governance, the daily life, friendship customs, marriage customs, child rearing, clothing, hunting, home life and so much more. At times I felt a bit overwhelmed listening to this on audiobook. It's extremely long and somewhat dry in the narration. I found myself longing for a written copy which would've allowed for an immersion experience. I truly appreciated how detailed this was.

Not being already familiar with this history, I am unable to comment on it's accuracy of facts. This covered well known historical leaders as well as everyday folks and customs. The research felt solid, if a bit weighted by colonial bias. Many of the historical sources the author sites in the text are observations from various white settlers, traders and government men. I made an effort to borrow the text from the library after it was released so I could offer a more informed opinion. Unfortunately, neither my local library, Hoopla, Libby or CloudLibrary had the written version available to borrow. My local Hoopla does have the audiobook available.

I hoped to corroborate anything I misheard in the narration with the written version. With that limitation stated, I'm going to offer with my impressions on the author's tone. The tone of this felt extremely colonial. The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas were referred to throughout the narrative with the inaccurate 'Indian' term. It felt deliberate and disrespectful on the author's part. It bothered me throughout my consumption of this history. This choice was never explained. Nor was it ever acknowledged that using 'Indian' when referring to the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas is no longer the academic standard nor considered respectful. I was bothered by settlers being referred to as 'victims' of the Indigenous Peoples fighting for their supremacy on their own land during an invasion that has never ended. The Cherokee were not themselves really acknowledged as the victims of colonization and the related settler violence. Which is inaccurate, uncomfortable, and made this text feel dated.

This audiobook is read by DeLanna Studi. I honestly found the narration a bit boring. In the narrators defense, this was a dense historical text and a bit dry in places. Perhaps this narrator is new to nonfiction or historical narration. I would definitely recommend the printed or ebook over the audiobook for this.

Thank you to David Narrett, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

Very informative and educational. I appreciated and enjoyed the book. I felt like it was well informed/researched and that it wasn't leaning either way on the biased scale. However, and this is in no way an insult to the book or audiobook narrator- I had a lot of trouble paying attention to the narrator. she wasn't monotone, she just didn't seem interested in the least about what she was narrating. Which made me struggle with keeping interest in the book as well.

Not sure I've ever had such mixed feelings about a nonfiction book before. I sort of wish I had been reading a physical book (that would have taken forever, though) so I could put my comments on sticky notes throughout it. I'm wondering why the author used "Indians", and why "victims" seemed to only be applied to whites who died (I could be mistaken about that one, it didn't occur to me to start counting until I was well into the book and since it was audio I couldn't just skim what I had already read for the word.). I'm willing to believe the author knows the facts, but he made some linguistic choices which made me think it was an older book.