Author Event: Cathy Coats, "To Banish Forever"

About This Event

Join author Cathy Coats as she discusses her new book To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota at Jeffers Petroglyphs.

Coats's groundbreaking research uncovers a forgotten yet important episode of state history following the US–Dakota War, when a group of white men in Mankato, Minnesota, formed a secret society, pledging to expel the Ho-Chunk people from the nearby Blue Earth reservation with the goal of claiming for themselves some of the richest farmland in the world.

The free event will include a reading, questions and answers, and book signing. Books will be available for purchase. Note: accessing the site outside of the event will require site admission.

“To Banish Forever is a powerfully written and compelling history of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Minnesota and the colonial forces seeking their removal from the state in the nineteenth century. It is persuasively argued, engagingly written, well researched, and urgently needed. It will also make a lasting contribution to many areas of scholarship. This book needs to be in the hands of people across Minnesota and beyond.”

—Amy Lonetree (Ho-Chunk), author of Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums