Unsettled Ground

Praise

Washington State Book Award Finalist

“Unsettled Ground is both the gripping adventure story of a cross-continental journey and a cultural exploration of the collision of two very different ways of life. . . . Told with depth and insight, Tate’s account is a prism that allows us to see the multiple dimensions of a classic frontier conflict.”
—Peter Stark, author of Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire

“I consider Unsettled Ground one of the most important Northwest history books ever written.”
—John Hughes, Chief Historian, Washington Secretary of State

“Even well-read aficionados of Western history will be surprised and perhaps dismayed by Tate’s comprehensive and masterfully layered narrative.”
—Shannon Applegate, author of Skookum: An Oregon Pioneer Family’s History and Lore and Living Among Headstones: Life in a Country Cemetery

“In this overdue era of righting unbalanced histories, Cassandra Tate reexamines a deadly tragedy from the nineteenth-century American West. Unsettled Ground is a riveting blend of intricate research, fresh cultural perspective, and first-rate storytelling.”
—Dave Boling, author of Guernica and The Lost History of Stars

“….by turns moving, evenhanded and lyrical in its evocation of time and place.”
—Seattle Times

“In this moment when we as a nation grapple with systemic racism and injustice, Unsettled Ground is a timely book.”
—Pacific Northwest Quarterly

“A highly readable, myth-busting, fact-based story. [A] tale for all who love the West, its history and its truths.”
—The Inlander

“Balanced and deeply researched.”
—Crosscut