The A to Z of Native American Movements

Book excerpt: Native Americans in the United States, similar to other indigenous people, created political, economic, and social movements to meet and adjust to major changes that impacted their cultures. For centuries, Native Americans dealt with the onslaught of non-Indian land claims, the appropriation of their homelands, and the destruction of their ways of life. Through various movements, Native Americans accepted, rejected, or accommodated themselves to the non-traditional worldviews of the colonizers and their policies. The A to Z of Native American Movements_through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions and significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects_is a useful reference on topics dealing with key movements, organizations, leadership strategies, and the major issues Native Americans have confronted.