[With "God Is Red" Deloria] has written yet another gripping account on the fate of the American Indian. Vine Deloria's interests range far and wide; the lore of his people is examined from an incredible number of different perspectives; various books of the Bible are introduced as history, and incredibly complex scientific (and other) data or explanations … are cited to give new twists to old beliefs. It is indeed a fascinating tale.

The discussion takes place on two levels. The first, and the one I can recommend to all readers, consists of a recital of selected injustices perpetrated upon the Red Man by the European settlers on this continent. The second, which is really the thesis of the book, I am far less sure about. Deloria seems to have concluded that in order to prove the Indians' way of life superior to that of the settlers', it was...