The border between the United States and Mexico, established in 1853, passes through the territory of the Tohono O'odham peoples. This revealing book sheds light on Native American history as well as conceptions of femininity, masculinity, and empire.

The story of the Tohono O'odham peoples offers an important account of assimilation. Bifurcated by a border demarcating Mexico and the US that was imposed on them after the Gadsden Purchase, the Tohono O'odham lived at the edge of two empires. By focusing on gender norms and ideals in the assimilation of the Tohono O'odham, At the Border of Empires provides a lens for looking at both Native American history and broader societal ideas about femininity, masculinity, and empire around the turn of the twentieth century.