Indian country, God's country : Native Americans and the national parks Cover Image

Book

Indian country, God's country : Native Americans and the national parks / Philip Burnham.

Summary:

"The mythology of "gifted land" is strong in the National Park Service, but some of our greatest parks were "gifted," by people who had little if any choice in the matter. Places like the Grand Canyon's south rim and Glacier had to be bought, finagled, borrowed - or taken by force - when Indian occupants and owners resisted the call to contribute to the public welfare. The story of national parks and Indians is, depending on perspective, a costly triumph of the public interest, or a bitter betrayal of America's native people." "In Indian Country, God's Country historian Philip Burnham traces the complex relationship between Native Americans and the national parks, relating how Indians were removed, relocated, or otherwise kept at arm's length from lands that became some of our nation's most hallowed ground."--BOOK JACKET.

Record details

ISBN: 155963667X (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 9781559636674 (cloth : alk. paper)
Physical Description: xvi, 383 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Island Press, c2000.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (p. 323-360) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	ch. 1. "It's the people that makes the land" -- ch. 2. "The great father protects you in every way" -- ch. 3. Worthless lands and homelands : the Park Service meets the Indian New Deal -- ch. 4. Lawyers, guns, and money : from termination to tribal sovereignty -- ch. 5. The great divide : Glacier and the Badlands -- ch. 6. High and low country : Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, and Death Valley.