"In Defense of Loose Translations is eyewitness testimony of what Native academics lived through as they infiltrated settler-colonial institutions of higher education, purposefully and diligently working to advance the inclusion of Native history, literature, politics, and environmental management into Western-based Euro-American pedagogy, unmasking pretenders who played Indian to advance themselves and jeopardize fledgling Native programs and scholars as they pursued their self-interests."—Kerri J. Malloy, American Indian Quarterly
"Cook-Lynn's sharp wit, careful deconstruction of U.S. policies, and commentary on the complicity of politicians and the press in propping up a sanitized version of the national history could well be, at this point, a matter of preaching to the converted. Those unfamiliar with her work, however, can find much to admire in her positions and may be drawn to consult her earlier writings. She embodies a remarkable consistency and remains unflinching in her dedication to her truth. . . . What she presents is a metamemoir, one we will do well to digest and discuss—or dismiss to our detriment."—Eric P. Anderson, Kansas History
“As a Native intellectual and a Dakota intellectual, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn constructs indigeneity as well as her own life while deconstructing U.S. settler-colonialism. She is one of the world’s experts on the subject area, which gives the subjective text a solid foundation. The book is beautifully written, poetic, lyrical, a signature style. It is truly a brilliant work.”—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, winner of the American Book Award