An American Corner of the World is a deep geography of an American place: Richardson County, Nebraska. It tells the story of the changing patterns and rhythms of life there, from the first occupants, hunters and gatherers thousands of years ago, right through almost to the present. In one sense, it is a county history, but in another sense it is a case study, representative of innumerable rural counties throughout the Midwest and Great Plains that experienced similar stages of initial rapid population growth and subsequent sustained population decline.

Why, then, select Richardson County, when so many other suitable case studies could have been chosen? The answer lies in the enduring presence of Native Americans, with the Iowa and Sac and Fox reservations still occupying the southern reaches of the county. Their experiences over time are also representative of those of other Native American nations across the country, though again expressed locally in distinctive ways. This juxtaposition of accounts of Native American dispossession and American succession allows a fuller story to be told than if only one side were related—and it identifies Richardson County as an intrinsically American corner of the world.