Cash, Color, and Colonialism: The Politics of Tribal Acknowledgment. By Renée Ann Cramer. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005. 224p. $24.95.

The literature of tribal politics and federal Indian law has largely been the province of law reviews and legal scholars. The subject matter is complicated, confusing, and contradictory. There are more than 500 Indian tribes and native villages that have been acknowledged (recognized) by the federal government, and each of these governments is unique in its history, heritage, culture, language, and land. Unlike other governments within the United States, tribal governments have no constitutional basis; therefore, they have been treated over the years by the United States as foreign nations (treaties and wars), as wards of the government (reservations and trust status), and as sovereign dependent nations. Federal Indian law is rendered more obscure by the fact that it affects less than 2% of the American population, and that, largely rural, population has the highest rate of poverty and unemployment in the country. All of these factors have led the First Americans to be highly marginalized in American politics, both by politicians and political scientists. This recently changed when the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) (1988), allowed gaming on Indian reservations, if the states wherein they were located allowed such gambling even under restricted conditions. The success of Indian gaming establishments has produced a type of Indian Renaissance, but only for federally acknowledged tribes. Indian tribes and communities that are not federally acknowledged have been unable to share in these economic and cultural benefits. Federal acknowledgment is the critical factor in the success of an Indian tribe in maintaining its sovereignty, culture, economy, and land base. Without federal acknowledgment, a tribe is not a tribe and its members are not Indians, regardless of heritage.