In his new preface to this paperback edition, the author observes, The Indian world has changed so substantially since the first publication of this book that some things contained in it seem new again. Indeed, it seems that each generation of whites and Indians will have to read and reread Vine Deloria's Manifesto for some time to come, before we absorb his special, ironic Indian point of view and what he tells us, with a great deal of humor, about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists. This book continues to be required reading for all Americans, whatever their special interest.

While visiting the United States, C. G. Jung visited the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, where he spent several hours with Ochwiay Biano, Mountain Lake, an elder at the Pueblo. This encounter impacted Jung psychologically, emotionally, and intellectually, and had a sustained influence on his theories and understanding of the psyche. Dakota Sioux intellectual and political leader, Vine Deloria Jr., began a close study of the writings of C. G. Jung over two decades ago, but had long been struck by certain affinities and disjunctures between Jungian and Sioux Indian thought. He also noticed that many Jungians were often drawn to Native American traditions. This book, the result of Deloria's investigation of these affinities, is written as a measured comparison between the psychology of C. G. Jung and the philosophical and cultural traditions of the Sioux people. Deloria constructs a fascinating dialogue between the two systems that touches on cosmology, the family, relations with animals, visions, voices, and individuation.

In 1934, Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier began a series of congresses with American Indians to discuss his proposed federal bill for granting self-government to tribal reservations. For the first time, the reservation Indian was asked for input in the structuring of American Indian relations with federal and state government and law. In The Indian Reorganization Act, Vine Deloria, Jr., has compiled the actual historical records of those congresses.

Deloria makes available important documents of the premier years of reform in federal Indian policy as well as the bill itself. A version of Collier's act eventually passed Congress, but in a less far-reaching form. Nevertheless, a new concept of self-government had emerged, one that now defines the federal government's approach to American Indian policy and that has changed forever the way American Indians define themselves.

In The Indian Affair Deloria traces the history of broken treaties with the Indians, describing how they were swindled out of their rights and pulling no punches in naming indiviuals, agencies, and corporations that have participated. Christian communities aren't exempted from critique either.

Deloria highlights the hard feelings that remain due to Christian complicity with Indian mistreatment and urges churches to do the thousand little things needed to heal the wounds left by the Trail of Broken Promises.

Originally published in 1974, just as the Wounded Knee occupation was coming to an end, Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties raises disturbing questions about the status of American Indians within the American and international political landscapes. Analyzing the history of Indian treaty relations with the United States, Vine Deloria presents population and land ownership information to support his argument that many Indian tribes have more impressive landholdings than some small members of the United Nations. Yet American Indians are not even accorded status within the UN's trust territories recognition process.

A 2000 study published by the Annual Survey of International and Comparative Law recommends that the United Nations offer membership to the Iroquois, Cherokee, Navajo, and other Indian tribes. Ironically, the study also recommends that smaller tribes band together to form a confederation to seek membership--a suggestion nearly identical to the one the United States made to the Delaware Indians in 1778--and that a presidential commission explore ways to move beyond the Doctrine of Discovery, under which European nations justified their confiscation of Indian lands. Many of these ideas appear here in this book, which predates the 2000 study by twenty-six years. Thus, Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties anticipates recent events as history comes full circle, making the book imperative reading for anyone wishing to understand the background of the movement of American Indians onto the world political stage.

In the quarter century since this book was written, Indian nations have taken great strides in demonstrating their claims to recognized nationhood. Together with Tribes, Treaties, and Constitutional Tribulations, by Deloria and David E. Wilkins, Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties highlights the historical events that helped bring these changes to fruition. At the conclusion of Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties, Deloria states: The recommendations made in the Twenty Points and the justification for such a change as articulated in the book may well come to pass in our lifetime. Now we are seeing his statement come true.

Reproduced in this two-volume set are hundreds of treaties and agreements made by Indian nations--with, among others, the Continental Congress; England, Spain, and other foreign countries; the Republic of Texas and the Confederate States; railroad companies seeking rights-of-way across Indian land; and other Indian nations. Many were made with the United States but either remained unratified by Congress or were rejected by the Indians themselves after the Senate amended them. Many others are agreements made after U.S. treaty making with Indian tribes officially ended in 1871.

These documents--augmented by chapter introductions that concisely set each type of treaty in its historical and political context--these documents effectively trace the evolution of American Indian diplomacy in the United States. This volume is the first major accessible compilation since Charles Kappler's 1904 Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties. As a group, these documents highlight American Indians' roles as active agents in international diplomatic affairs.

Federal Indian law . . . is a loosely related collection of past and present acts of Congress, treaties and agreements, executive orders, administrative rulings, and judicial opinions, connected only by the fact that law in some form has been applied haphazardly to American Indians over the course of several centuries. . . . Indians in their tribal relation and Indian tribes in their relation to the federal government hang suspended in a legal wonderland.

In this book, two prominent scholars of American Indian law and politics undertake a full historical examination of the relationship between Indians and the United States Constitution that explains the present state of confusion and inconsistent application in U.S. Indian law. The authors examine all sections of the Constitution that explicitly and implicitly apply to Indians and discuss how they have been interpreted and applied from the early republic up to the present. They convincingly argue that the Constitution does not provide any legal rights for American Indians and that the treaty-making process should govern relations between Indian nations and the federal government.

Baffled by the stereotypes presented by Hollywood and much historical fiction, many other Americans find the contemporary American Indian an enigma. Compounding their confusion is the highly publicized struggle of the contemporary Indian for self-determination, lost land, cultural preservation, and fundamental human rights--a struggle dramatized both by public acts of protest and by precedent-setting legal actions. More and more, the battles of American Indians are fought--and won--in the political arena and the courts.

American Indians, American Justice explores the complexities of the present Indian situation, particularly with regard to legal and political rights. It is the first book to present an overview of federal Indian law in language readably accessible to the layperson. Remarkably comprehensive, it is destined to become a standard sourcebook for all concerned with the plight of the contemporary Indian.

Beginning with an examination of the historical relationship of Indians and the courts, the authors describe how tribal courts developed and operate today, and how they relate to federal and state governments. They define such key legal concepts as tribal sovereignty and Indian Country. By comparing and contrasting the workings of Indian and non-Indian legal institutions, the authors illustrate how Indian tribes have adapted their customs, values, and institutions to the demands of the modern world. Describing the activities of attorneys and Indian advocates in asserting and defending Indian rights, they identify the difficulties typically faced by Indians in the criminal and civil legal arenas and explore the public policy and legal rights of Indians as regards citizenship, voting rights, religious freedom, and basic governmental services.

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. Booklist Deloria 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.