“The book certainly sheds new light on the history of international relations in the region. It will be useful for students interested in the intellectual history of the Southern Cone but also for those concerned with the role of translation practices and international relations in the construction of collective identities in the region and in cultural diplomacy.”—Hispanic American Historical Review
"At the Border of Empires forms an important part of the growing body of scholarship on Native American assimilation during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."—Journal of American History
“What sets this book apart from other scholarship on gender and assimilation is that the authors examine the experiences of the Tohono O’odham on both sides of the border.”—Gender and History
“A tidy and compact volume that contains keen insights into how the U.S. government’s efforts to assimilate the Tohono O’odham relied on constructions of gender."—Journal of Arizona History
"Scholars of indigenous studies, borderlands history, and transnational history will welcome this text as a small but powerful example of what can be accomplished in a field overflowing with similar research topics to be explored and stories to be told."—Catholic Historical Review
“Marak and Tuennerman focus on the gendered dimensions of efforts to assimilate the Tohono O’odham, a nation of people that have lived in what we now call the borderlands for over a millennium.”—Jeffrey Shepherd, author of We Are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People
“This in-depth study of feuding missionaries and conniving Indian agents trying to educate and ‘civilize’ Native Americans provides a gripping tale of paternalism, racism, and exploitation.”—Bill Broyles, Southwest Books of the Year
“Highlighting the themes of imperialism, gender, and Indigenous agency, Marak and Tuennerman deftly illustrate the unintended consequences of gendered assimilation efforts in which U.S. assimilation efforts occurred not in spite of, but rather because of, the peripheral location of the Tohono O’odham.”—Native American and Indigenous Studies
“The archival research and the chapter on Mexico are especially welcome since few works have examined the Tohono O’odham living on both sides of the border. The book also offers excellent insights into the role that gender played in the United States’ assimilation policy and indigenous responses to it.”—Eric Meeks, author of Border Citizens: The Making of Indians, Mexicans, and Anglos in Arizona