In By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land, journalist Rebecca Nagle chronicles generations of land theft perpetrated by the American government against Native American nations, following Native leaders and allies who have pushed back. This vital account not only explains how the United States government and Supreme Court swindled Native Americans out of millions of acres of land designated for them in treaty allotments, but also details how the fight for Native land rights continues today, including the unfolding of a 2020 Supreme Court win upholding much of Oklahoma as tribal land.
In the book, Nagle focuses on threads in two Native nations’ histories, one historical and one contemporary, to lay out the social and legal precedent for our current state of affairs. In the present, Nagle visits Muscogee Nation, where an Oklahoma public defender argues that Patrick Murphy’s 1999 murder of George Jacobs, for which he was convicted and sentenced to death, was committed on reservation land rather than in Oklahoma’s jurisdiction. Murphy’s appeal opens up a broader, fiercer debate over Native land and treaty rights, escalating to the Supreme Court. The other main thread follows Nagle’s own ancestors, 19th-century Cherokee Nation leaders John and Major Ridge, who were confronted with treaty negotiations, land politics and immense strife following the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
With precision and ease, Nagle defines and contextualizes legal terms and historical figures. This sturdy scaffolding allows the reader to gain footholds for ethical exploration and discussion, as well as pass judgment on the supposed impartial nature of the American government and Supreme Court. Making cultural context and treaty details easily accessible, and using the Native legal and cultural advocates who have won back land as guideposts, Nagle clearly demonstrates centuries of precedent in which corruption of American businesses and government alike has undone the legal protections previously given to Native land and livelihood across America.
“The fight over truth is so bitter because power flows from the dominant narrative—the power to shape both public sentiment and public policy,” Nagle writes. By the Fire We Carry is essential reading for considering how the country can end this cycle of irreparable damage and move toward a more just future.
