The Rights of Indians and Tribes

The Rights of Indians and Tribes, first published in 1983, has sold over 100,000 copies and is the most popular resource in the field of Federal Indian Law. The book, which explains this complex subject in a clear and easy-to-understand way, is particularly useful for tribal advocates, government officials, students, practitioners of Indian law, and the general public. Numerous tribal leaders highly recommend this book. Incorporating a user-friendly question-and-answer format, The Rights of Indians and Tribes addresses the most significant legal issues facing Indians and Indian tribes today, including tribal sovereignty, the federal trust responsibility, the regulation of non-Indians on reservations, Indian treaties, the Indian Civil Rights Act, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and the Indian Child Welfare Act. This fully-updated new edition features an introduction by John Echohawk, Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund.

"Federal Indian Law encompasses nearly 400 Indian treaties, hundreds of federal statutes, and thousands of court decisions. When the first edition of The Rights of Indians and Tribes was published in 1983, it firmly established itself as the only book explaining Federal Indian Law in a clear and easy-to-understand way for students and practitioners of Indian law, tribal advocates, government officials, and the general public. Numerous tribal leaders highly recommend this book. Incorporating a user-friendly question-and-answer format, veteran legal counsel Stephen Pevar addresses the most significant legal issues facing Indians and Indian tribes, including tribal sovereignty, the federal trust responsibility, the regulation of non-Indians on reservations, Indian treaties, the Indian Civil Rights Act, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and the Indian Child Welfare Act. This fully updated new edition includes a wealth of new information on recent legislation and judicial decisions, and it also features an introduction by John Echohawk, Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund"--

As a tribal leader, I have found Stephen Pevar's book to be both an excellent and useful resource.

--W. Ron Allen, Chairman, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, and Treasurer of the National Congress of American Indians

Every Indian should read this book.

--Suzan Shown Harjo, President, The Morning Star Institute (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee)

Stephen Pevar's book is an indispensable part of the toolkit for American Indian lawyers, leaders, and scholars. Nothing is a more accessible, comprehensive, and realistic treatment of modern day tribal sovereignty than The Rights of Indians and Tribes. This was my introduction to Indian law and still frames much of my thinking on the future of Indian law and policy. Another edition of Pevar's ground-breaking work is just cause for celebration.

--Matthew Fletcher, Michigan State University College of Law

This is a remarkable book, and there is nothing else like it. It explains the complex subject of federal Indian law in a clear and concise way. Both lawyers and non-lawyers will find this book very helpful, as I have.

--Honorable BJ Jones, Chief Judge of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Prairie Island Indian Community, and Director of the Tribal Judicial Institute, University of North Dakota School of Law

I highly recommend this book. Many federal employees, including myself, rely on it. The book gives clear, useful, and well-documented answers for anyone approaching the vast and often intimidating subject of federal Indian law.

--Lori Windle, Vice-Chair, Society of American Indian Government Employees (Minnesota Chippewa, White Earth)

In this updated edition of his landmark 1983 work, Stephen L. Pevar continues his decades-long effort to distill the intricacies of Indian law into an easy-to-understand format that will help Indian tribes vindicate their rights and their sovereignty. Mr. Pevar concisely explains important concepts in Indian law through a question-and-answer format, drawing on history, case law, legal scholarship, and sociology to explain not only what the state of Indian law is, but also why it has come to be that way, taking into account major recent developments in Indian law...The book contains a number of useful maps, lists, and charts, as well as the texts of major Indian law statutes and over 130 pages of helpful footnotes. Mr. Pevar's work will be of interest to legal scholars, historians, Indian law litigators, and Indian rights activists alike.
--Harvard Law Review

Pevar has a gift for explaining complex issues of federal Indian law, and his book has the unique quality of being scholarly, but accessible. Reading his book from cover-to-cover is required in our MTAG graduate program. -Professor Tadd M. Johnson, Esq., Director, Master of Tribal Administration and Governance Program (University of Minnesota Duluth), former NIGC Chair, and former Staff Director of the US House Subcommittee on Native American Affairs

We used Pevar's book as the sole book of the [Certificate Program in Tribal Leadership & Governance] and everyone loved it.--Crystal Blue, Project Manager, California Tribal College