Iowa has more than eighteen thousand archaeological sites, and research in the past few decades has transformed our knowledge of the state's human past. Drawing on the discoveries of many avocational and professional scientists, Lynn Alex describes Iowa's unique archaeological record as well as the challenges faced by today's researchers, armed with innovative techniques for the discovery and recovery of archaeological remains and increasingly refined frameworks for interpretation. The core of this book--which includes many historic photographs and maps as well as numerous new maps and drawings and a generous selection of color photos--explores in detail what archaeologists have learned from studying the state's material remains and their contexts. Examining the projectile points, potsherds, and patterns that make up the archaeological record, Alex describes the nature of the earliest settlements in Iowa, the development of farming cultures, the role of the environment and environmental change, geomorphology and the burial of sites, interaction among native societies, tribal affiliation of early historic groups, and the arrival and impact of Euro-Americans. In a final chapter, she examines the question of stewardship and the protection of Iowa's many archaeological resources.

What began as a study of the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway stretched into more than a dozen contributions on Hawkeye state railroad topics. By 1969 Donovan had examined Iowa's “Little Three”: Chicago Great Western, Illinois Central, and Minneapolis & St. Paul as well as the state's “Big Four”: Chicago & North Western; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific; and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. In addition to these seven core carriers, Donovan covered the state's less prominent railroads: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Great Northern; and Union Pacific and Wabash. Moreover, he contributed an issue on Iowa's principal interurbans, most of which survived into the 1950s as electric-powered freight-only short lines. In uniting Donovan's articles into a single volume, Iowa Railroads provides the most complete history of Iowa's rail heritage.

Originally published in 1978, this work reflected a range of views on Native Americans in Iowa: those of the Native Americans themselves, those of Euro-Americans, of lay people and professionals. This expanded edition reflects the recent changes encountered by Native American Indians in the region.

Outstanding Publication Award given by the Communal Studies Association The Amish on the Iowa Prairie, 1840 to 1910 tells the story of how the Amish integrated themselves into a mid-American society, even as they preserved their own culture. Steven D. Reschly traces the Amish in Iowa from their initial settlement in the 1840s, through the community's experiences at the close of the nineteenth century when the rural economy of the United States had matured, and into the early part of the twentieth century. As Reschly demonstrates, the Amish experience of marginality and persecution in early modern Europe led them to develop a repertoire of actions and attitudes that helped preserve their community during migration—an array of cultural practices and religious beliefs that contribute to what the Amish experience as the "portable community". In narratives of critical episodes, supported by quantitative and comparative analysis of census and land records, Reschly explores the paradoxical stability and adaptability of the Amish community in North America. Throughout The Amish on the Iowa Prairie, Reschly develops intricate portraits that illustrate aspects of the portable community, such as innovative agricultural practices, specific migratory patterns, and the Amish practice of distancing themselves from the wider society. He also examines gender and family relations, land ownership and inheritance, and participation in the Civil War, and includes an analysis of the dreams of Bishop Jacob Swartzendruber and the visions of "sleeping preacher" Noah Troyer. What emerges is a depiction of the Amish in Iowa that contradicts the common view that Amish communities are static and resist change.