Across North America, hundreds of reconstructed Oliving historyO sites, which traditionally presented history from a primarily European perspective, have hired Native staff in an attempt to communicate a broader view of the past. Playing Ourselves explores this major shift in representation, using detailed observations of five historic sites in the U.S. and Canada to both discuss the theoretical aspects of Native cultural performance and advise interpreters and their managers on how to more effectively present an inclusive history. Drawing on anthropology, history, cultural performance, cross-cultural encounters, material culture theory, and public history, author Laura Peers examines Oliving historyO sites as locations of cultural performance where core beliefs about society, cross-cultural relationships, and history are performed. In the process, she emphasizes how choices made in the communication of history can both challenge these core beliefs about the past and improve cross-cultural relations in the present.

"...the subject of the work is so fascinating and Peers' arguments so cogent that it needs to be on the "must read" list of anyone involved, however peripherally, in historic reconstructions." - Muse, January/February 2008

"Peer's extensive archival research and interviews with staff and visitors give us a better understanding of how Native histories are produced and negotiated....Playing Ourselves should be required reading for all museum studies students and professionals..." - Museum, May 2008

"The author's methodology is consistent with the highest standards of anthropological practices. We are impessed with Peer's commitment to long-term analysis. This is one of the book's strengths. Peer's rapport with her informants, established through years of follow-up fieldwork, directly benefits the research and reader alike and helps create a sense of confidence in the content. This book is academic yet accessible, and we highly recommended it." - The Public Historian

"Peers' work is a valuable contribution to the literature on the representation of Native peoples. . . . Peers' work is well-balanced, and readers from a variety of fields . . . will find much here to appreciate." - Museum Anthropology Review, October 2008

"This is essentially a book about encounters: encounters between Native interpreters and visitors at historic sites, of course—but also encounters between differing preconceptions of history, between ways of life, between people and things, and between the present and the past. Laura Peers succeeds in exploring a number of questions concerning the development, aims, politics, agency, and multiple contexts and interpretations of the historical representations negotiated at these sites. A greatly enjoyable and very readable book." - Great Plains Quarterly, Spring 2009

"Peers has produced a very important analysis….There can be no question that Laura Peers' Playing Ourselves is worthy of serious attention from a wide range of material culture, historic site, museum, tourism, and both Native and non-Native practitioners." - Material Culture

"Playing Ourselves speaks to the contemporary politics of representation across cultural divides…. This book is mandatory reading for anyone interested in the complex negotiations that take place during processes of representing 'the Other' at cultural tourism sites and their implications for shifting power relationships." - Anthropology of Work Review