Looking for a good read? Here is a recommendation. I have an unusual approach to reviewing books. I review books I feel merit a review. Each review is an opportunity to recommend a book. If I do not think a book is worth reading, I find another book to review. You do not have to agree with everything every author has written (I do not), but the fiction I review is entertaining (and often thought-provoking) and the non-fiction contain ideas worth reading.
Book Review
The Transformation of Iowa
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
June 28, 2026
“Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River,” by Kevin T. Mason, Michigan State University Press, April 2026, 320 pages, $69.95 (Hardcover), $34.95 (Paperback), $34.95 (E-book)
In June 1835, a First US Dragoons company, led by Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney, conducted a surveying expedition across what later became Iowa. One member of the party, Lt. Albert Miller Lea its topographer, published an account of it a year later. It inspired a wave of settlers to move to the area.
“Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River,” by Kevin T. Mason, recounts the expedition, and follows the original Dragoon Trail in the 21st Century. It presents the changes which have occurred over the intervening years.
Changes have been dramatic. In 1835 Iowa was bog and forest. It had agricultural promise, but was untamed. Today it is rolling farmland. The forests have been cut, the bogs drained. It is gridded with roads and railroads. Mason poignantly explains how the transformation occurred.
He tells how the whites moved in and the Indians were forced out. Only a few returned, those successfully returning claiming and settling land in the manner of the whites. He also describes the skirmishes fought by the unsuccessful ones.
The book is filled with colorful characters. Nathan Boone, Daniel Boone’s son appears. So do Black Hawk (Mahkatêwe-meshi-kêhkêhkwa) Keokuk, and Wapello for the Indians. Julien Debuque, John Frémont, Grant Wood, Henry A. and Henry C. Wallace, and Perry Holden (the Corn Professor) take their place on the stage.
Mason shows how Iowa’s industries evolved. There are surprises. In the mid-1700s Iowa yielded ten percent of the world’s supply of lead. Mason shows how that happened. He follows the rise and decline of Iowa’s coal industry, and its evolution from a state best known for its wheat and oats to a corn and pork powerhouse.
He also shows how after over a century of transforming its land to farms, that Iowans are now returning parts to the state in which it existed prior to the Dragoon Trace. Not in large amounts, but enough to show residents what it once was like.
It is easy to think of Iowa’s history as boring. There were no major battles there, no Earth-changing events. Yet “Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa” shows it to be anything but. Its history since 1835 has high drama, tragedy and triumph, blended together. Mason highlights both Iowa’s bright points and low spots. His language is lyrical and descriptive. His love for Iowa is obvious. This is a book worth reading.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.