Overview

In his memoir, Alvin Ziontz reflects on his more than thirty years representing Indian tribes, from a time when Indian law was little known through landmark battles that upheld tribal sovereignty. He discusses the growth and maturation of tribal government and the underlying tensions between Indian society and the non-Indian world. A Lawyer in Indian Country presents vignettes of reservation life and recounts some of the memorable legal cases that illustrate the challenges faced by individual Indians and tribes. As the senior attorney arguing U.S. v. Washington, Ziontz was a party to the historic 1974 Boldt decision that affirmed the Pacific Northwest tribes' treaty fishing rights, with ramifications for tribal rights nationwide. His work took him to reservations in Montana, Wyoming, and Minnesota, as well as Washington and Alaska, and he describes not only the work of a tribal attorney but also his personal entry into the life of Indian country. Ziontz continued to fight for tribal rights into the late 1990s, as the Makah tribe of Washington sought to resume its traditional whale hunts. Throughout his book, Ziontz traces his own path through this public history - one man's pursuit of a life built around the principles of integrity and justice.

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9780295996417

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"""Ziontz infuses wit and humor into his narrative, yet the heartbreak and frustration surrounding Indian rights is palpable. . . . A Lawyer in Indian Country is a must read for anyone interested in Native-white relations, Native rights, of Pacific Northwest history. Simply put, Ziontz provides a riveting account of struggle and success and goes beyond court documents and affidavits to reveal the people behind the cases, and the man behind the people."" * Pacific Northwest Quarterly * ""A Lawyer in Indian Country is a compelling legal and personal story… Readers will find this richly textured memoir an inspiring story, with the author deserving high praise for advancing the constitutional rights of American Indians."" * The Oregon Quarterly *"

Ziontz infuses wit and humor into his narrative, yet the heartbreak and frustration surrounding Indian rights is palpable... A Lawyer in Indian Country is a must read for anyone interested in Native-white relations, Native rights, of Pacific Northwest history. Simply put, Ziontz provides a riveting account of struggle and success and goes beyond court documents and affidavits to reveal the people behind the cases, and the man behind the people. Pacific Northwest Quarterly A Lawyer in Indian Country is a compelling legal and personal story... Readers will find this richly textured memoir an inspiring story, with the author deserving high praise for advancing the constitutional rights of American Indians. The Oregon Quarterly

Ziontz infuses wit and humor into his narrative, yet the heartbreak and frustration surrounding Indian rights is palpable. . . . A Lawyer in Indian Country is a must read for anyone interested in Native-white relations, Native rights, of Pacific Northwest history. Simply put, Ziontz provides a riveting account of struggle and success and goes beyond court documents and affidavits to reveal the people behind the cases, and the man behind the people. * Pacific Northwest Quarterly * A Lawyer in Indian Country is a compelling legal and personal story... Readers will find this richly textured memoir an inspiring story, with the author deserving high praise for advancing the constitutional rights of American Indians. * The Oregon Quarterly *

Author Information

Charles Wilkinson is the Moses Lasky Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Colorado. His fourteen books on law, history, and society in the American West include the standard law casebooks on Indian Law and Federal Public Land Law; The Eagle Bird: Mapping A New West (Pantheon Books, 1992); Fire on the Plateau: Conquest and Endurance in the American Southwest (Island Press, 1999); Messages from Frank’s Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way (University of Washington Press, 2000); Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations (W.W. Norton & Co., 2005); and The People Are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon (University of Washington Press, 2010).

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