Broken Landscape: Indians, Indian Tribes, and the Constitution

Broken Landscape: Indians, Indian Tribes, and the Constitution by Pommersheim, Frank. Hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780195373066.

Broken Landscape is a sweeping chronicle of Indian tribal sovereignty under the United States Constitution and the way that legal analysis and practice have interpreted and misinterpreted tribal sovereignty since the nations founding. As the book demonstrates, the federal government has repeatedly failed to respect the Constitutions recognition of tribal sovereignty. Instead, it has favored excessive, unaccountable authority in its dealings with tribes. Frank Pommersheim 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. Closing with a proposal for a Constitutional amendment that would reaffirm tribal sovereignty, Pommersheim challenges us to finally accord Indian tribes and Indian people the respect and dignity that are their due.