American Indian Policy In The Twentieth Century Summary

In American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century, editor Vine Deloria, Jr., has assembled a collection of essays addressing the underlying issues affecting the implementation of federal Indian policy in the United States during the twentieth century. Deloria critiques chronological interpretations of federal Indian policy as too narrow in scope. Instead, he advocates an approach to understanding the reconfiguration of federal Indian policy based upon areas of “topical interest”(p. 7). The interest concerns of American Indians, Deloria contends, provide the framework for reappraising the historical relationship between the United States and American Indian tribes. Deloria’s anthology is organized into eleven chapters of varying authorship. Each chapter reconsiders the “emotional and intangible” aspects of

7). The work is bookended with contributions by Deloria, each giving consideration to the complex nature of federal Indian policy in the United States. The essay contributors utilize a wealth of primary source material in the construction of narratives addressing various topics related to American Indian life during the twentieth century. These topics include, the rights of American Indians within the context of international decolonization, American Indians and the First Amendment, and American Indian voting behavior. Deloria describes the goal of American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century as providing “some substantial building blocks” with which to engage and analyze the evolution of federal Indian policy in the United States (p. 7). In retrospect, American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century is an important work because it reinserted the experience of American Indians into the conversation regarding federal