By the Fire We Carry

The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land

By: Rebecca Nagle

Narrated by: Rebecca Nagle

“Rebecca Nagle gives a clear and compelling narration of her look into how a small-town murder in the Muscogee Nation led to a significant 2020 Supreme Court case—and the largest restoration of Native tribal land in American history. . . . An illuminating listen.” — AudioFile

""Impeccably researched. . . . A fascinating book and an important one.” — Washington Post

“[A] brilliant, kaleidoscopic debut. . . . Nagle’s narrative is lucid and moving. . . . A showstopper.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

Most Anticipated Book of the Fall: Washington Post, People, Los Angeles Times, Parade, Bustle, Book Riot

A powerful work of reportage and American history that braids the story of the forced removal of Native Americans onto treaty lands in the nation’s earliest days, and a small-town murder in the 1990s that led to a Supreme Court ruling reaffirming Native rights to that land more than a century later

Before 2020, American Indian reservations made up roughly 55 million acres of land in the United States. Nearly 200 million acres are reserved for National Forests—in the emergence of this great nation, our government set aside more land for trees than for Indigenous peoples.

In the 1830s Muscogee people were rounded up by the US military at gunpoint and forced into exile halfway across the continent. At the time, they were promised this new land would be theirs for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. But that promise was not kept. When Oklahoma was created on top of Muscogee land, the new state claimed their reservation no longer existed. Over a century later, a Muscogee citizen was sentenced to death for murdering another Muscogee citizen on tribal land. His defense attorneys argued the murder occurred on the reservation of his tribe, and therefore Oklahoma didn’t have the jurisdiction to execute him. Oklahoma asserted that the reservation no longer existed. In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court settled the dispute. Its ruling that would ultimately underpin multiple reservations covering almost half the land in Oklahoma, including Nagle’s own Cherokee Nation.

Here Rebecca Nagle recounts the generations-long fight for tribal land and sovereignty in eastern Oklahoma. By chronicling both the contemporary legal battle and historic acts of Indigenous resistance, By the Fire We Carry stands as a landmark work of American history. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed and the Native-led battle for justice that has shaped our country.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Amazing book

Nagle approaches difficult topics with clear eyes and a sense of complexity. She works hard to lay out the history of the US, Oklahoma, the tribes, and her own family. Highly recommend.

An Incredible Feat of History, Research, and Narrative

An incredible book. Important, contemporary, and compelling. The author’s expertise and empathy are on full display.

Fair, thorough, and necessary

Nagel does fantastic, detailed reporting, and the narrative and tone are sharp and strong without hyperbole. This is an important story of a struggle against genocide and for realization of promised civil and human rights in addition to inherent sovereignty for Tribal Nations. I strongly recommend this book and the This Land podcast. Nagel is an invaluable talent.

A precious piece of native history

This book is a precious piece for history and a unique work of investigative journalism inquiring into literal justice and transgressions against native people in the United States of America. The author, Rebecca Nagle is a living treasure for Humanity.

So great to see the full story after This Land pod

I’ve been following this story since first listening to the This Land podcast. This book expands the story greatly, obviously. It is fascinating. The author does a wonderful job with the narration.