Most Americans view Indians as people of the past who occupy a position outside the central narrative of American history. It's assumed that Native history has no particular relationship to what is conventionally presented as the story of America. Indians had a history, but theirs was short and sad, and it ended a long time ago. Here, leading historian Frederick E. Hoxie has created a bold counter-narrative. Native American history, he argues, is also a story of political activism, its victories hard-won in courts and campaigns rather than on the battlefield. For more than two hundred years, Indian activists have sought to bridge the distance between indigenous cultures and the American republic through legal and political debate. Over time their struggle defined a new language of "Indian rights" and created a vision of American Indian identity. Hoxie asks readers to think deeply about how a country based on the values of liberty and equality managed to adapt to the complex demands of people who refused to be overrun or ignored.--From publisher description.