The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century

"It is no small irony that after Native Americans had been forced onto reservations on land that nobody wanted, a wealth of natural resources would be discovered under those lands. Fixico. . . documents the continuing struggle Native Americans have faced to control their lives and their land."
-Booklist

"Fixico's brilliant study. . . is more than an insightful examination of the fraud and violence experienced by the Osage, Creek, and other individuals and nations at the hands of greedy corporations and 'gold diggers'. It covers recent efforts of the Indian governments to gain adequate compensation and protection for their resources. [The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century] fills a vast void in our understanding of Indian-white relations."
-James Riding-In, Arizona State University

"This volume should be on the shelf of anyone intersted in the development of the American West and the struggle for the rich resources contained in the region."
-R. David Edmunds, University of Texas at Dallas

"This is a significant study by a major Native scholar [which] demonstrates eloquently the challenges that have confronted Native peoples and the ways in which Indian nations have attempted to gain control over the own natural resources."
-Peter Iverson, Arizona State University

The struggle between Indians and whites for land did not end on the battlefields in the 1800s. When this hostile era closed with Native Americans forced onto reservations, no one expected that rich natural resources lay beneath these lands that white America would desperately desire. Yet oil, timber, fish, coal, water, and other resources were discovered to be in great demand in the mainstream market, and a new war began with Indian tribes and their leaders trying to protect their tribal natural resources throughout the twentieth century.

In The Invasion of Indian Country in the 20th Century, Donald Fixico details the course of this struggle, providing a wealth of information on the resources possessed by individual tribes and the way in which they were systematically defrauded and stripped of these resources. Fixico contends that federal policies originally devised to protect Indian interests ironically worked against the Indian nations as the tribes employed new tactics with the Council of Energy Resources Tribes, using the law in courts and applying aggressive business leadership to combat the capitalist invasion by mainstream America.

Fixico's analysis of this war being waged throughout the century and today serves as an indispensable reference tool for anyone interested in Native American history and current government policy with regard to Indian lands.

Donald L. Fixico (Shawnee, Sac and Fox, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole) is Distinguished Foundation Professor of History and Affiliate Faculty of American Indian Studies at Arizona State University.