Vine Deloria, Jr. Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Linda Morgan Rubens

Critical Essay by Linda Morgan Rubens

In what is essentially a legal and political history [Indians of the Pacific Northwest: From the Coming of the White Man to the Present Day], Deloria introduces the tribes of the Puget Sound region with an eye toward their historic and current victimization and their efforts at fighting back. He makes known the complex, fish-based economy that operated before the coming of the white man…. Deloria calls close attention to a series of treaties forged in the mid-19th century when Washington became a U.S. territory. These treaties have been pivotal in present-day battles over Indian fishing rights. The state of Washington and the U.S. Department of the Interior come in for heavy criticism; the author, who himself has worked on behalf of the tribes, pulls out statistics and arguments that soundly dispute sportsmen's and states' contentions that the Indians are ruining the region's fishing…. A feisty, forthright account; sympathetic, thorough,...
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