Review of Indians and the American West in the Twentieth Century By Donald L. Parman

Authors

Leonard R. Bruguier, University of South Dakota

Date of this Version

1996

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly 16:2 (Spring 1996). Copyright © 1996 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Abstract

Offering solid scholarship and impressive, fresh documentation, Parman contributes a tantalizing, sometimes scintillating overview of American Indian history as it unfolds through the twentieth century. Often rich in detail while describing Indian struggles for self-determination, the book also reveals the give and take tribes have experienced on their long trail of reasserting their place not only in the American West but on the national scene. All is not optimistic, but Indians and the American West draws a detailed map of the territory on which future disputes are likely to unfold; thoughtful citizens consulting it should be better prepared to make informed choices. Classrooms that have left nineteenth-century American Indian experiences and are now attempting to deal with contemporary problems from an informed viewpoint will find this volume a highly useful guide.