American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century

Vine Deloria gathers 11 essays on a variety of topics germane to the present and the future of American Indian policy. The editor's own piece is perhaps the broadest in range, discussing the evolution of federal policy-making. Other contributors deal with such subjects as Indian voting, cultural values versus the economic realities of reservation life, tribal government, the Supreme Court and Indian water rights, and the influence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Indian self-determination. While many of these topics have been addressed before, these essays bring an optimism and an agenda for the future thus far lacking in Indian historical literature. BooklistDeloria has shown himself to be a perceptive social critic, an effective chronicler of recent Native American history, and a visionary political analyst. Editing this volume of ten essays, he writes, is an attempt to present a fresh approach to policy analysis in the hope of creating 'a new edifice of understanding' for scholars and practitioners. The result is a provocative book. Journal of the Southwest.