Broken Landscape is a sweeping chronicle of the ways that Indian tribal sovereignty is recognized within the Constitution and as it has been interpreted and misinterpreted through legal analysis and practice over the intervening decades. Built on a history of war and usurpation of land, the relationship between Indian tribes and the United States government was formally inscribed within federal structure-a structure not mirrored in the traditions of tribal governance. Although the Constitution recognized the sovereignty of Indian nations, it did not safeguard tribes against the tides of national expansion and exploitation. As Broken Landscape demonstrates, the federal government has repeatedly failed to respect the tribal sovereignty recognized in the Constitution, instead favoring excessive, unaccountable authority in its dealings with tribes. The resulting legal thought regarding tribal rights, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court and throughout contemporary Indian policymaking, has devolved from its constitutional roots, causing great harm to tribal culture and sovereignty. Frank Pommersheim, one of America's leading scholars in Indian tribal law, offers a novel and deeply researched synthesis of this legal history from colonial times to the present, confronting the failures of constitutional analysis in contemporary Indian law jurisprudence. Proposing an amendment to the Constitution to reestablish tribal sovereignty, Broken Landscape stands as a challenge to create and foster a living constitution that provides dignity, respect, and inclusion to Indian tribes and Indian people.

Broken Landscape is a sweeping chronicle of Indian tribal sovereignty under the United States Constitution and the way that legislators have interpreted and misinterpreted tribal sovereignty since the nation's founding. Frank Pommersheim, one of America's leading scholars in Indian tribal law, offers a novel and deeply researched synthesis of this legal history from colonial times to the present, confronting the failures of constitutional analysis in contemporary Indian law jurisprudence. He demonstrates that the federal government has repeatedly failed to respect the Constitution's recognition of tribal sovereignty. Instead, it has favored excessive, unaccountable authority in its dealings with tribes. Pommersheim argues that the Supreme Court has strayed from its Constitutional roots as well, consistently issuing decisions over two centuries that have bolstered federal power over the tribes. Closing with a proposal for a Constitutional amendment that would reaffirm tribal sovereignty, Broken Landscape challenges us to finally accord Indian tribes and Indian people the respect and dignity that are their due.

In this ambitious and moving book, Frank Pommersheim, who lived and worked on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation for ten years, challenges the dominant legal history of American Indians and their tribes - a history that concedes far too much power to the laws and courts of the 'conqueror'. Writing from the perspective of the reservation and contemporary Indian life, Pommersheim makes an urgent call for the advancement of tribal sovereignty and of tribal court systems that are based on Indian culture and values. Taking as its starting point the cultural, spiritual, and physical nature of the reservation, "Braid of Feathers" goes on to trace the development of Indian law from the 1770s to the present. Pommersheim considers the meaning of justice from the indigenous point of view. He offers a trenchant analysis of the tribal courts, stressing the importance of language, narrative, and story. He concludes by offering a 'geography of hope,' one that lies in the West, where Native Americans control a significant amount of natural resources, and where a new ethic of development and preservation is emerging within the dominant society. Pommersheim challenges both Indians and non-Indians to forge an alliance at the local level based on respect and reciprocity - to create solidarity, not undo difference.