While this book does not give a geographic area in its title, and indeed platform mounds can be found in various parts of world, it concentrates on the Southeastern USA, with a few forays into the Midwest. The history of Eastern North American archaeology is centred predominantly around the exploration of earthen mounds. As the field of archaeology has matured and racist ideologies and politics have slowly fallen away, we are able to explore the complex social roles of earthen monuments deeper into the past—finally within a growing ethos of mindfulness of inclusivity with Indigenous voices and collaboration. Kassabaum's volume represents an important step in this journey, centring on ‘platform mounds’, which are defined by the author as a form of monumental architecture communally constructed with a flat summit, where special activities occur. This synthesis brings together the largest sample of sites to date that securely extend the origins of platform mounds back 7500 years. Using a ‘forward-looking’ approach, the author reinforces the origins of these elevated grounds well beyond their traditional late manifestations, where they have historically been tightly bound to traits of social hierarchies, permanent villages and corn agriculture in the late prehistoric Mississippian Period (c. AD 900–1600).

The book consists of five chapters and a short epilogue. Chapter 1, ‘Finding the Meaning in Elevated Ground’, understandably does not accomplish the given title but is an instructive history of mounds in the Eastern USA, with an emphasis on platform mounds that are made of soil, sediments or shell. The regional divisions include Florida's St Johns River Valley, the Lower Mississippi River Valley, Gulf [of Mexico] Coastal Plain, Midwestern USA, Appalachian Summit, Mid-south, and South Florida. A simple chronological chart lays out the archaeological phases within these regions, which is vital to following the narrative in Chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 2, ‘Considering Time’, confers a theoretical commitment to a multifaceted and multiscale approach from a growing body of monumental research using time perspectivism and historical-processualism.

Chapters 3 and 4 contain a synthesis of mound sites in a narrative form that is primarily organised by region (noted above), in response to specific issues. Chapter 3, ‘Archaic Beginnings’, discusses 25 of the earliest mound sites that concentrate in the St Johns River Valley (shell mounds and ridges) and slightly later shell mounds of various forms along the Gulf Coast, before discussing the Lower Mississippi River Valley, which contains the earliest and most variable mounds. Mound construction materials and forms, and their interpretation, vary by region and reporters, but the general agreement is attention to place, created through the significance of the building experience and/or using earth to ritually seal meaningful features. These practices or events afford dispersed populations the opportunity to come together and, in the process, mark their community identity. The work done at Poverty Point Culture sites in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, especially at the enigmatic UNESCO World Heritage type-site, facilitates a deeper discussion centred on the sheer volume of earthmoving by egalitarian hunter-fisher-gatherers.

Chapter 4, ‘Woodland Expansion’, is the longest chapter in the book for obvious reasons. During the Woodland period (c. 1200 BC–AD 1050), mound building occurred virtually everywhere in the Eastern Woodlands. This florescence links to the elaboration of mortuary practices and the far-reaching influences of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere centred in the Ohio Valley. This chapter discusses, or at least mentions, 111 sites across the different regions. The author is to be applauded for extracting the sometimes-illusive mound data from a wide range of sources; however, following the resulting narrative form without the benefit of detailed data tables and figures will be a challenge for most readers. Even the author appears to suffer fatigue with this format as they delve into regions that appear to be less familiar to them.

Chapter 5, ‘Continuity and Change in Late Platforms’, offers a case study of the ‘forward-looking’ approach from the author's own research in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. Unfortunately, this is a lost opportunity, as the case study lacks the detail and figures (there is one sketch of each site, without labels or scale) expected to demonstrate the goals of the book of understanding platform history and meaning. This final chapter is followed by a two-page epilogue that I found both moving and hopeful for the future of earthen monument research in Eastern North America.

This book relies on data from various sites, delivered by weaving bits and pieces into the narrative that addresses questions such as a possible hiatus in Early Woodland mound building, and how, considering the incredible variation expressed, we should distinguish Woodland Platform mound construction relative to later manifestations. But where are the consistent data-rich appendices needed to support mentions of stratigraphic detail, cultural phases instead of dates or vice versa, or the presence or absence of certain features associated with mound summits? Is this omission due to the archaeological history of these sites? The reader needs a level of consistent data to support interpretive accounts. The six basic tables and figures in the book are overly spare. Putting these data into appendices, even if made available electronically instead of print, would have made the narrative discussions easier to assess, with less pressure on the author to squeeze in various factoids (some feel random) and too often just straight interpretations. This criticism is directed at all book publishers. Synthesis books are a curse and blessing, especially in archaeology, where there is often a wide disparity in the quality of original reporting. In this not-so-new era in data sharing and online publishing, there are ways to allow readers to see the data they need to assess the work and to encourage the next generation toward addressing gaps in the data, in cases where innovative technology has yet to be integrated and there are new patterns to discover.

Closing on a brighter note, the book successfully establishes the deep history and dynamic variability of platform mound construction in the Southeastern USA and nudges us towards the range of sites where we can continue to explore ways to recognise ‘meaning’ as it changes through time.