By following key families in Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Anglo-American societies from the Seven Years' War through 1845, this study illustrates how kinship networks--forged out of natal, marital, or fictive kinship relationships--enabled and directed the actions of their members as they decided the futures of their nations. Natalie R. Inman focuses in particular on the Chickasaw Colbert family, the Anglo-American Donelson family, and the Cherokee families of Attakullakulla (Little Carpenter) and Major Ridge. Her research shows how kinship facilitated actions and goals for people in early...