"Did you ever wonder what life was like for native people who lived here before us? Twelve Moons : A Year with the Sauk and Meskwaki, 1817-1818 takes the reader on a month-by month journey through the seasons and across the forests and prairies of the upper midwest surrounding the Mississippi and Rock Rivers. Experience the ingenuity and challenges of native peoples who occupied this part of Illinois just prior to Statehood in 1818. This book follows the Sauk and Meskwaki through a year of daily life as they hunted, trapped, farmed, mined, and traveled, all in harmony with the changing seasons and the resources on which they relied for their basic way of life. Join them in practicing their ancient seasonal traditions during this final time before encroaching settlers and mounting military pressures changed their way of life forever."--Page 4 of cover.