Agriculture on Plains Indian reserves is generally thought to have failed be- cause the Indigenous people lacked either an interest in farming or an aptitude for it. In Lost Harvests Sarah Carter reveals that reserve residents were anx- ious to farm and expended considerable effort on cultivation; government policies, more than anything else, acted to undermine their success. Despite repeated requests for assistance from Plains Indians, the Canadian government provided very little help between 1874 and 1885, and what little they did give proved useless. Although drought, frost, and other natural phe- nomena contributed to the failure of early efforts, reserve farmers were deter- mined to create an economy based on agriculture and to become independent of government regulations and the need for assistance. Officials in Ottawa, however, attributed setbacks not to economic or climatic conditions but to the Indians’ character and traditions which, they claimed, made the Indians un- suited to agriculture. In the decade following 1885 government policies made farming virtually impossible for the Plains Indians. Through an examination of the relevant published literature and of archival sources in Ottawa, Mani- toba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Carter provides an in-depth study of gov- ernment policy, Indian responses, and the socio-economic condition of the reserve communities on the prairies in the post-treaty era. The new introduc- tion by the author offers a reflection on Lost Harvests, the influences that shaped it, and the issues and approaches that remain to be explored. Sarah Carter is professor and Henry Marshall Tory Chair in the Department of History and Classics and the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. In 1807 genteel, Bermuda-born Fanny Palmer (1789–1814) married Jane Austen’s youngest brother, Captain Charles Austen, and was thrust into a de- manding life within the world of the British navy. Experiencing adventure and adversity in wartime conditions both at sea and onshore, the spirited and re- silient Fanny travelled between Bermuda, Nova Scotia, and England. For just over a year, her home was in the city of Halifax. After crossing the Atlantic in 1811, she ingeniously made a home for Charles and their daughters aboard a working naval vessel and developed a supportive friendship with his sister, Jane. In Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister Fanny’s articulate and informative letters – transcribed in full for the first time and situated in their meticulously researched historical context – disclose her quest for personal identity and autonomy, her maturation as a wife and mother, and the domestic, cultural, and social milieu she inhabited. Sheila Johnson Kindred also investigates how Fanny was a source of naval knowledge for Jane, and how she was an inspira- tion for Austen’s literary invention, especially for the female naval characters in Persuasion. Although she died young, Fanny’s story is a compelling record of female naval life that contributes significantly to our limited knowledge of women’s roles in the Napoleonic Wars. “Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister is a compelling portrait of a woman’s life in a particularly taxing time of British history, on the crux of empire … It is the reader’s good fortune that Fanny Austen has such a thoughtful and well presented biography … Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister is a delightful journey on which to sail.” The Wordsworth Circle Sheila Johnson Kindred taught in the Department of Philosophy at Saint Mary’s University. She writes about Jane Austen’s fiction and family, and lives in Halifax. 1 4 M Q U P S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 S P E C I F I C AT I O N S ($Ht..7’d008L3 Uortm0 o8C U92ru028 c02t03 May 2019 -5,7a755pl7l5hh7h 4phi-l£ bAU1 4phi-l£ Dc1 ksni-- n B - pn,66 0g99T omot.oN.0 I N D I G E N O U S S T U D I E S • H I S T O R Y Lost Harvests Prairie Indian Reserve Farmers and Government Policy, Second Edition sarah carter With a new introduction by the author “Fascinating … superb … beautifully written … By 1920, as is well-known, the condition of Indians throughout Canada reached a nadir. Carter’s splendid work explains only too clearly how this happened.” Boyce Richardson, The Beaver n e w i n pa p e r Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen sheila johnson kindred A revealing account of a naval officer’s young wife, her life during the Napoleonic Wars, and her influence on Jane Austen’s fiction. S P E C I F I C AT I O N S January 2019 -5,7a755pl7l5a,7n 4shi-lv bAU1 4S-i-lv Dc1 kSni-- 6o602 n B - ps,66 sh $9.9d21 Sa NVF 6u9r93 0g99T omot.oN.0 B I O G R A P H Y • H I S T O R Y