"Author Erika Bolstad was shocked to learn she had inherited mineral rights in North Dakota in the throes of an oil bonanza. Determined to unearth the story behind her unexpected inheritance, she followed the trail to her great-grandmother, Anna, who her family had painted to be a courageous homesteader who paved her way in the unforgiving American West. But, Bolstad discovers a darker truth about Anna than her family had ever shared. With journalistic rigor, she unearths a history of environmental exploitation and genocide as well as the modern-day consequences of the Great Plains Dream: we could be rich"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes a reading group guide (pages 283-290).

Fractured -- Prairie potholes -- Rigged -- The boom -- Past is prologue -- Manifest destiny -- Motherless -- Anna -- A woman behind every tree -- Long underwear -- The mystery baby-making boulder of Liberty, Illinois -- Beatrice -- Medora -- The bust -- The dollhouse -- Hydrocarbons -- Sans souci -- The anthropocene -- We could be rich -- Windfall.