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Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations
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.
559 pages, Hardcover
First published February 17, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 6, 2025
A History Of Indian Self-Determination
The second half of the Twentieth Century was a period of great social upheaval in the United States. The changes wrought by the Civil Rights, women's, environmental, and anti-war movements are well-known. Perhaps less well-known, but of great importance, are the changes brought about by American Indian Tribes as they sought to organize their governments, implement and determine their treaty rights, and revitalize their traditional cultures. The story of tribal self-determination is told with eloquence and passion by Professor Charles Wilkinson in his recent book, "Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations" (2005). Professor Wilkinson is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law and the author of twelve books dealing with Indian affairs and with the American West. He is also a distinguished advocate and has worked as counsel to many Indian tribes on matters discussed in this book.
In his comprehensive and readable history, Professor Wilkinson places the self-determination movement against the backdrop of earlier Indian policy. He begins with the General Allotment Act of 1887 in which Congress provided for the division of Reservation lands to individual Indians with the goal of assimilating the Indians into the broader society and selling-off the tribal land base. He follows this with a discussion of Indian policy during the New Deal which partly reversed this trend but which lead to the policy of termination in the 1950s and early 1960s. The termination policy was also assimilationist in nature and had the goal of ending Federal supervision of and the special Federal relationship to Indian tribes. The tribes succeeded in reversing the termination policy when, in 1973, Congress passed a law restoring the Federal relationship to the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. Professor Wilkinson was instrumental in securing this legislation.
Professor Wilkinson offers an intellectual, legal, and cultural history of Indian self-determination. His book is full of stories and anecdotes of tribal people and their leaders: this multi-dimensional approach brings his study to life. I learned a great deal from his discussion of the work of three influential Indian writers: Charles Eastman, Black Hawk, (primarily in the famous book "Black Elk Speaks" by John Neihardt) and Darcy McNickle. Wilkinson's treatment of these writers provides a good understanding to the tribal movement and is frequently overlooked in other treatments of this subject.
Professor Wilkinson offers well-paced accounts of the Indian attempted takeovers at Alcatraz and of portions of the BIA buildings in Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The book discusses, with the perspective of the insider, the salmon fishing litigation in the Northwest in which tribes secured a recognition of their treaty rights (the "Boldt" decision), the story of Indian land claims in the Northeast, tribal efforts to restore land unjustly taken from them and much else. He discusses the shifting fortunes of Indian litigants in recent years before the Supreme Court of the United States. The book also covers tribal business endeavors in such areas as forest management, resorts, oil and gas pipelines, and most recently and controversially, casino gambling.
Professor Wilkinson writes with a mastery of his subject and a deep commitment to the rightness of Indian causes. This is the source of great strength and eloquence in the book but also the source of some questions. At times, Professor Wilkinson doesn't let the reader see that there are (at least) two sides to every question. Too often, objections to the tribal position in various matters are swept aside or belittled. Tribal positions on various separate issues are indiscriminately lumped together with little effort to distinguish what is valuable with what is questionable. In his effort to set forth what he deems to be the values of Indian culture ( a slow-pace of life, living close to the land, a spiritual tie to land and community, environmentalism) Professor Wilkinson perhaps simplifies and romanticizes many individual cultures which differ widely from each other. Conversely, he oversimplifies and is overly critical of life in the broader United States which Professor Wilkinson finds conformist, materialistic, and destructive, and intolerant of differences. There is too much easy caricature here on both sides and, I think, too great a stress on the values of ethnicity and nationalism. The interplay and relationship between a traditional and a common culture is an important question faced by every group in the United States and deserves closer thought than it receives in this study.
Professor Wilkinson's study teaches a great deal about the development of Indian tribes and institutions in our recent history. The book held my interest and deeply moved me. It will encourage the reader to think about a part of our Nation's history and its present that is too often ignored.
Robin Friedman
The second half of the Twentieth Century was a period of great social upheaval in the United States. The changes wrought by the Civil Rights, women's, environmental, and anti-war movements are well-known. Perhaps less well-known, but of great importance, are the changes brought about by American Indian Tribes as they sought to organize their governments, implement and determine their treaty rights, and revitalize their traditional cultures. The story of tribal self-determination is told with eloquence and passion by Professor Charles Wilkinson in his recent book, "Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations" (2005). Professor Wilkinson is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law and the author of twelve books dealing with Indian affairs and with the American West. He is also a distinguished advocate and has worked as counsel to many Indian tribes on matters discussed in this book.
In his comprehensive and readable history, Professor Wilkinson places the self-determination movement against the backdrop of earlier Indian policy. He begins with the General Allotment Act of 1887 in which Congress provided for the division of Reservation lands to individual Indians with the goal of assimilating the Indians into the broader society and selling-off the tribal land base. He follows this with a discussion of Indian policy during the New Deal which partly reversed this trend but which lead to the policy of termination in the 1950s and early 1960s. The termination policy was also assimilationist in nature and had the goal of ending Federal supervision of and the special Federal relationship to Indian tribes. The tribes succeeded in reversing the termination policy when, in 1973, Congress passed a law restoring the Federal relationship to the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. Professor Wilkinson was instrumental in securing this legislation.
Professor Wilkinson offers an intellectual, legal, and cultural history of Indian self-determination. His book is full of stories and anecdotes of tribal people and their leaders: this multi-dimensional approach brings his study to life. I learned a great deal from his discussion of the work of three influential Indian writers: Charles Eastman, Black Hawk, (primarily in the famous book "Black Elk Speaks" by John Neihardt) and Darcy McNickle. Wilkinson's treatment of these writers provides a good understanding to the tribal movement and is frequently overlooked in other treatments of this subject.
Professor Wilkinson offers well-paced accounts of the Indian attempted takeovers at Alcatraz and of portions of the BIA buildings in Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The book discusses, with the perspective of the insider, the salmon fishing litigation in the Northwest in which tribes secured a recognition of their treaty rights (the "Boldt" decision), the story of Indian land claims in the Northeast, tribal efforts to restore land unjustly taken from them and much else. He discusses the shifting fortunes of Indian litigants in recent years before the Supreme Court of the United States. The book also covers tribal business endeavors in such areas as forest management, resorts, oil and gas pipelines, and most recently and controversially, casino gambling.
Professor Wilkinson writes with a mastery of his subject and a deep commitment to the rightness of Indian causes. This is the source of great strength and eloquence in the book but also the source of some questions. At times, Professor Wilkinson doesn't let the reader see that there are (at least) two sides to every question. Too often, objections to the tribal position in various matters are swept aside or belittled. Tribal positions on various separate issues are indiscriminately lumped together with little effort to distinguish what is valuable with what is questionable. In his effort to set forth what he deems to be the values of Indian culture ( a slow-pace of life, living close to the land, a spiritual tie to land and community, environmentalism) Professor Wilkinson perhaps simplifies and romanticizes many individual cultures which differ widely from each other. Conversely, he oversimplifies and is overly critical of life in the broader United States which Professor Wilkinson finds conformist, materialistic, and destructive, and intolerant of differences. There is too much easy caricature here on both sides and, I think, too great a stress on the values of ethnicity and nationalism. The interplay and relationship between a traditional and a common culture is an important question faced by every group in the United States and deserves closer thought than it receives in this study.
Professor Wilkinson's study teaches a great deal about the development of Indian tribes and institutions in our recent history. The book held my interest and deeply moved me. It will encourage the reader to think about a part of our Nation's history and its present that is too often ignored.
Robin Friedman
July 9, 2010
A surprisingly uplifting description of the work of Indian leaders to revitalize their communities.
January 11, 2026
Wilkinson does a great job laying the context in which Native Americans began the arduous process of reacquiring sovereignty over their territories towards the end of the 20th century. He highlights the multiple phases of interest/disinterest exhibited by the state and federal governments that combined with a new generation of Native American leadership to craft a new course in Native American affairs. He highlights the crucial role played by the federal judiciary in holding state and federal governments to the stipulations in the 19th century treaties with Native American tribes. He then traces the impact of increasing sovereignty in reviving the economy and community of many Native American tribes. He does wonderful justice to the diversity in approaches, and outcomes, by the many tribes in the US, delving deeply into the topic and not holding back from pointing out the setbacks experienced.
January 3, 2021
A provocative account of the post-colonial social and economic recovery of indigenous people in the US. Beginning with the "deadening years" of oppressive BIA control and continuing up to modern cultural revival, "Blood Struggle" describes the battles Native peoples have weathered during their ongoing fight for sovereignty within a colonial society. As a lawyer with a background in Indian law, Wilkinson provides thoughtful insight into key court decisions which furthered or hindered indigenous rights. "Blood Struggle" ends with a cautiously optimistic view of the future of the indigenous rights movement, and what it means for tribal ways of life to continue throughout time immemorial. This book is an essential read for anyone with an interest in indian law, political activism, natural resources, or social/environmental justice.
December 18, 2020
Dense but very thoroughly written. It’s is written by a lawyer, so the legal stuff can sometimes get tiring but not enough to diminish from its value. There is some author bias but, again, not enough to take anything away from the book. There are only a few things I wish the book would speak on more. 1: Tribal members who were ok with some of the federal policy (there were a large number who were); he does bring them up occasionally but only enough to wet your whistle. 2: The relationships between “pure blood” Indians and “mixed bloods”; from a historical perspective there are key rivalries that deserve more attention. Beyond these two things, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.
December 7, 2024
I think I'm broadly more critical of books in subjects I care about, so I've decided to let this one fall the other way (I'm feeling a 3.5 star in general).
A decent bit I could quibble with here, and there is the aspect of the author being non-native himself which I think does color his take a little. Also a weird passing shot at Eminem?
Still, for the things I might squint at, this book gets a lot right. The core point - that the positive changes in the situation over the last several decades have been thanks to the efforts and intelligence of the tribes - is made repeatedly and well.
Blood Struggle is informative, well-constructed, touching in parts, and I can definitely recommend it to people wanting to get a handle on recent native history.
A decent bit I could quibble with here, and there is the aspect of the author being non-native himself which I think does color his take a little. Also a weird passing shot at Eminem?
Still, for the things I might squint at, this book gets a lot right. The core point - that the positive changes in the situation over the last several decades have been thanks to the efforts and intelligence of the tribes - is made repeatedly and well.
Blood Struggle is informative, well-constructed, touching in parts, and I can definitely recommend it to people wanting to get a handle on recent native history.
December 20, 2020
Well-written, replete with beautiful and illustrative stories of Native resiliency (as well as the difficult context the US has and continues to place Indigenous communities in). As the third or fourth in a bit of a row, I'm finally starting to get a handle on the timeline of tribal-federal relations; some of the leaders of 20th and 21st century tribal sovereignty and cultural initiatives; and more of the place-based geographic features so crucial to many tribes across the continent.
October 21, 2020
Very informative from an academic point of view. Sad of course. The author is an early legal expert and Professor of Law in the area of historiography of Native American Law in the United States, for better or worse...
November 14, 2019
There are many volumes on the past history of American Indian Tribes. Too few showcase the status of modern Native Americans after years of legal rigmarole.
Much like the grievances of African Americans towards governmental policies, the injustices do not need to stretch past the 20th century. In the 1950s, the federal government began a policy of termination; the stripping of legal status to many tribes in order to halt funding for government programs. Termination was an extremely painful process that literally took names and rights from tribes and opened up their land to commercial sale.
The 1960s brought a rise in activism and protest to assert so-called “red power.” This resulted in extreme demonstrations such as the occupation of Alcatraz, the storming of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the stand-off at Pine Ridge Reservation (incidents that deserve their own books, but are richly described here). But many of these acts ended in failure and severe reprisals.
Despite these setbacks, these events inspired many tribes to band together and find more concrete solutions. Not as dramatic as the previous grand gestures but much more long-lasting, tribes pursued the slow grind of litigation to have their concerns heard and win their day in court. This book does an impressive job of cataloguing the most significant legal proceedings and how they came to be. The writing rarely reads like a cold court procedural. There is plenty of life and blood running through these events and a memorable cast of characters to back them up.
The praise from the author regarding these court battles can verge on being hyperbolic. The author personally worked on behalf of a tribe during one of these cases. But the book reminds readers that there is still more to be done. Statistics are mentioned that cite the still prevailing level of poverty, violence and self-harm that exist in many Indian reservations. To paraphrase from the book, these conditions that were forced on native communities lasted a century and a half; it will not take less than that to rectify those injustices.
Much like the grievances of African Americans towards governmental policies, the injustices do not need to stretch past the 20th century. In the 1950s, the federal government began a policy of termination; the stripping of legal status to many tribes in order to halt funding for government programs. Termination was an extremely painful process that literally took names and rights from tribes and opened up their land to commercial sale.
The 1960s brought a rise in activism and protest to assert so-called “red power.” This resulted in extreme demonstrations such as the occupation of Alcatraz, the storming of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the stand-off at Pine Ridge Reservation (incidents that deserve their own books, but are richly described here). But many of these acts ended in failure and severe reprisals.
Despite these setbacks, these events inspired many tribes to band together and find more concrete solutions. Not as dramatic as the previous grand gestures but much more long-lasting, tribes pursued the slow grind of litigation to have their concerns heard and win their day in court. This book does an impressive job of cataloguing the most significant legal proceedings and how they came to be. The writing rarely reads like a cold court procedural. There is plenty of life and blood running through these events and a memorable cast of characters to back them up.
The praise from the author regarding these court battles can verge on being hyperbolic. The author personally worked on behalf of a tribe during one of these cases. But the book reminds readers that there is still more to be done. Statistics are mentioned that cite the still prevailing level of poverty, violence and self-harm that exist in many Indian reservations. To paraphrase from the book, these conditions that were forced on native communities lasted a century and a half; it will not take less than that to rectify those injustices.
January 16, 2015
Clear and concise account of the struggles of the Indian nations from the "terminationist" policy of Eisenhower's Bureau of Indian Affairs to the cultural and economic revival programs ongoing in the current century. While not pretending to cover the history of every Indian tribe in the US over the past hundred years or so, Wilkinson carefully selects the most significant concerns of Indians (i.e. fishing and hunting rights, tribal education programs etc), usually connects them with one or two tribes who had significant gains around it, and relates it to the general development of vastly diverse and scattered groups of people. Through all this his care and concern for Indians as a people and the genuine sovreignty of their tribes is evident, as a non-Indian who has spent his life working for their welfare.
If there's one complaint I have about the book it's that his general framework, being formed from his experience as a lawyer, does not always enable him to adequately connect the rising Indian consciousness of the 1960s with struggles at the base around basic rights against the termination policy, to later victories in the courts which consolidated these two. He has a liberal civil rights viewpoint that values court victories the highest and tends to be dismissive of (for example) the urban-based American Indian Movement and how it laid the ground for a national Indian civil rights struggle and united tribal policy. He also suffers from confusion about the distorted impact of capitalist development on the reservations (particularly around the infamous casinos), but his constant stressing of tribal sovreignty is well taken in this regard. Highly recommended
If there's one complaint I have about the book it's that his general framework, being formed from his experience as a lawyer, does not always enable him to adequately connect the rising Indian consciousness of the 1960s with struggles at the base around basic rights against the termination policy, to later victories in the courts which consolidated these two. He has a liberal civil rights viewpoint that values court victories the highest and tends to be dismissive of (for example) the urban-based American Indian Movement and how it laid the ground for a national Indian civil rights struggle and united tribal policy. He also suffers from confusion about the distorted impact of capitalist development on the reservations (particularly around the infamous casinos), but his constant stressing of tribal sovreignty is well taken in this regard. Highly recommended
June 25, 2008
500 years of suppression, but they have survived ...we almost killed them off (we sure tried hard). Power to the people. I am glad I finally finished reading it.
January 29, 2009
This one will definitely remain on the shelf.
September 3, 2012
Very informative.
February 7, 2009
Kind of dry but informative.
August 24, 2015
4.5 stars to be exact...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews