Advance praise:

"Losing a Lost Tribe summarizes the molecular genetic data that have been used to reconstruct human migrations into the New World and Oceania. It also provides an illuminating discussion of the anthropological and Mormon perspectives on the origins of Native Americans and Polynesians. The theological implications of the genetic data are profound and unequivocal." —Theodore G. Schurr, director of the Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology and Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania; consulting curator, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; contributor, New Perspectives on the First Americans

“In an incisive way, Simon Southerton clarifies the often cloudy waters that lie between religious belief and scientific findings. He presents a solid case for the science-based perspective on the origins of American and Polynesian native peoples, while acknowledging the difficulties that such a perspective might cause for the Mormon church.” —Peter S. Bellwood, Professor of Archaeology, Australian National University; author of The Polynesians: Prehistory of an Island People and Man's Conquest of the Pacific: The Prehistory of Southeast Asia and Oceania; editor, Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association

"Southerton’s book lifts the yoke of 'evil' from the necks of the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. While growing up in Utah, I have felt the sting of prejudice, reproach, and recrimination due to the color of my skin. And while it may be that the American Indians and Pacific Islanders are not close blood relatives, we will always consider ourselves brothers and sisters to one another in spirit. With regard to my Mormon (and I have many kind and righteous) friends, I urge that they come to understand that, regardless of our beliefs and non-beliefs about each other, we are on the same spiritual plane. We should never allow our differences in dogmas to separate us from coming to the spiritual table as equals." —Forrest S. Cuch, executive director, Utah Division of Indian Affairs; former director of education, Ute Indian Tribe; editor, A History of Utah's American Indians

"Dr. Southerton's Losing a Lost Tribe is a brilliant exposition of the LDS assertion, in the face of scientific contradiction, that the ancestors of the Native American Nations and Polynesian peoples were ancient Israelites. Because his book is written in a way that engages one's attention and is well organized, we finally have an accessible work that explains the long history of missionization among indigenous peoples, particularly the role of the LDS church, as well as of new scientific methods to determine the genetic lineage of individuals and human populations. By focusing on Native American experiences with the Mormon church, Southerton reveals how the complex religious history of America has impacted the once autonomous people of the Americas and the Pacific and why, even today, we are either misunderstood or, worse yet, our religious traditions are appropriated as we continue our struggle for religious freedom and sovereignty." —Inés Talamantez (Apache/Chicana), Associate Professor of Native American Religious Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara; Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University; associate editor, The Encyclopedia of Religion, second edition