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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.