Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations

From Publishers Weekly
Reservations, long mired in poverty and oppression, have become rallying points for Native American society, according to this stirring history of the tribal sovereignty movement. Energized by the Civil Rights movement's gains and pressing their claims under long-dormant treaties, Indian tribes have taken control of reservation government from an autocratic Bureau of Indian Affairs, regained lost lands, asserted hunting and fishing rights, jump-started reservation economic development and revived Indian languages and culture. Wilkinson (American Indians, Time, and the Law; etc.), formerly an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund and now a law professor at the University of Colorado, ranges widely over the sovereignty movement, emphasizing the court cases—like the Pacific Northwest salmon controversies and the wrangles over reservation gambling—that have expanded tribal rights. His sympathetic treatment extols the movement's success in redressing historic injustices, but sometimes skates too easily over difficulties in squaring ethnically based sovereignty with principles of democracy and equal citizenship. (He cites one reservation on which 50 Indians controlled a tribal government claiming jurisdiction over 3,000 non-Indian residents.) And he sometimes defends Native American prerogatives by invoking a cultural uniqueness—Indians' spiritual connection to the land, for example, may entitle them to "flexibility" in complying with environmental laws—that smacks of essentialism. But the story of the Native American renaissance is an inspiring one, and this book marks a deserving chapter. Photos. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Wilkinson, a professor of law at the University of Colorado, presents a thorough and uniquely cohesive history of the modern tribal sovereignty movement, beginning with how the U.S. originally negotiated treaties with tribes, in part, to reduce Indian landholdings and limit their political power. In 1887 Congress passed the General Allotment Act, which allowed the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to transfer tribal lands to individual tribal members and open any land not allotted to non-Indians. By 1953 the government terminated all federal services and protections and urged tribes on reservations to relocate to urban centers. The children of the relocated became the Indian professional middle class and the wellspring for the sovereignty movement. Self-determination became government policy in the 1970s, bringing about reform even though the BIA stonewalled requests from tribes to operate their own programs. Activists persisted, pushing through federal legislation, buying back lost tribal land, and resolving fishing and hunting rights. There are still miles to go, but as Wilkinson shows, today's tribes are stronger than they've ever been. Rebecca Maksel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Senator John McCain
A first rate scholar, lawyer, historian, and raconteur....A testament to the enduring vitality of the tribes and our democratic faith.


Book Description
The inspirational story of the extraordinary gains by Indian tribes over the past half-century. For generations, Indian people suffered a grinding poverty and political and cultural suppression on the reservations. But tenacious and visionary tribal leaders refused to give in. They knew their rights and insisted that the treaties be honored. Against all odds, beginning shortly after World War II, they began to succeed. The modern tribal sovereignty movement deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as the civil rights, environmental, and women's movements. Charles Wilkinson recounts in colorful terms tribal victories in major legal conflicts in contemporary America: the Indian land claims in Maine and other eastern states, the "salmon wars" of the Pacific Northwest, and the establishment of tribal casinos as a way of making inroads into poverty. Blood Struggle explores how Indian tribes took their hard-earned sovereignty—their right to self-determination—and put it to work for Indian peoples and the perpetuation of Indian culture. Finally, this is the story of wrongs righted and noble ideals upheld. 20 illustrations, 16 maps.


About the Author
Charles Wilkinson, author of twelve books and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Colorado, is a former attorney with the Native American Rights Fund. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.


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A former Native American Rights Fund staff attorney, Wilkinson (law, Univ. of Colorado) provides a comprehensive history of Native American sovereignty as a major American civil rights movement. Beginning with the tribal termination period of the 1950s, he reviews major events up to 2002. In discussing Native leaders and their political leadership, Wilkinson has the advantage of claiming many as his personal friends after decades of legal representation and consultation. Treaty rights and the court victories upholding them are examined, along with the role of the American Indian Movement and the impact of casinos on modern reservation economies. The author's previous books (e.g., Message from Frank's Landing) have prepared him for this finely written overview, which pulls together an assortment of events and legal cases into a coherent, understandable history that will appeal to a general audience. Strongly recommended for public and academic libraries.-Nathan E. Bender, Buffalo Bill Historical Ctr., Cody, WY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.


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