Oklahoma is home to nearly forty American Indian tribes and includes the largest Native population of any state. As a result, many Americans think of the state as 'Indian Country.' In 2009, Blue Clark, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, produced an invaluable reference for information on the state's Native peoples. Now, building on the success of the first edition, this revised guide offers an up-to-date survey of the diverse nations that make up Oklahoma's Indian Country. Since the publication of the first edition more than a decade ago, much has changed across Indian Country - and more is known about its history and culture. Drawing from both scholarly literature and Native oral sources, Clark incorporates the most recent archaeological and anthropological research to provide insights into each individual tribe dating back to prehistoric times. Today, the thirty-nine federally recognized tribes of Oklahoma continue to make advances in the areas of tribal governance, commerce, and all forms of arts and literature. This new edition encompasses the expansive range of tribal actions and interests in the state, including the rise of Native nation casino operations and nongaming industries, and the establishment of new museums and cultural attractions. In keeping with the user-friendly format of the original edition, this book provides readers with the unique story of each tribe, presented in alphabetical order, from the Alabama-Quassartes to the Yuchis. Each entry contains a complete statistical and narrative summary of the tribe, covering everything from origin tales to contemporary ceremonies and tribal businesses. The entries also include tribal websites, suggested readings, and photographs depicting visitor sites, events, and prominent tribal personages.

Oklahoma is home to nearly forty American Indian tribes, and includes the largest Native population of any state. As a result, many Americans think of the state as "Indian Country." For more than half a century readers have turned to Muriel H. Wright's" A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma" as the authoritative source for information on the state's Native peoples. Now Blue Clark, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, has rendered a completely new guide that reflects the drastic transformation of Indian Country in recent years.

As a synthesis of current knowledge, this book places the state's Indians in their contemporary context as no other book has done. Solidly grounded in scholarship and Native oral tradition, it provides general readers the unique story of each tribe, from the Alabama-Quassartes to the Yuchis. Each entry contains a complete statistical and narrative summary of the tribe, encompassing everything from origin tales and archaeological research to contemporary ceremonies and tribal businesses. The entries also include tribal websites and suggested readings, along with photographs depicting prominent tribal personages, visitor sites, and accomplishments.

Landmark court cases in the history of formal U.S. relations with Indian tribes are "Corn Tassel, Standing Bear, Crow Dog, "and" Lone Wolf. "Each exemplifies a problem or a process as the United States defined and codified its politics toward Indians. The importance of the "Lone Wolf" case of 1903 resides in its enunciation of the "plenary power" doctrine--that the United States could unilaterally act in violation of its own treaties and that Congress could dispose of land recognized by treaty as belonging to individual tribes.
In 1892 the Kiowas and related Comanche and Plains Apache groups were pressured into agreeing to divide their land into allotments under the terms of the Dawes Act of 1887. Lone Wolf, a Kiowa band leader, sued to halt the land division, citing the treaties signed with the United States immediately after the Civil War. In 1902 the case reached the Supreme Court, which found that Congress could overturn the treaties through the doctrine of plenary power.

As he recounts the "Lone Wolf" case, Clark reaches beyond the legal decision to describe the Kiowa tribe itself and its struggles to cope with Euro-American pressure on its society, attitudes, culture, economic system, and land base. The story of the case therefore also becomes the history of the tribe in the late nineteenth century.

The "Lone Wolf" case also necessarily becomes a study of the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887 in operation; under the terms of the Dawes Act and successor legislation, almost two-thirds of Indian lands passed out of their hands within a generation. Understanding how this happened in the case of the Kiowa permits a nuanced view of the well-intentioned but ultimatelydisastrous allotment effort.