| Summary: | ""Indian reservations" were the United States' ultimate solution to the "problem" of what to do with native peoples who already occupied the western lands that Anglo settlers wanted. In this broadly inclusive study, Richard J. Perry considers the historical development of the reservation system and its contemporary relationship to the American state, with comparisons to similar phenomena in Canada, Australia, and South Africa." "The San Carlos Apache Reservation of Arizona provides the lens through which Perry views reservation issues. One of the oldest and largest reservations, its location in a minerals- and metals-rich area has often brought it into conflict with powerful private and governmental interests. Indeed, Perry argues that the reservation system is best understood in terms of competition for resources among interest groups through time within the hegemony of the state. He approaches the Apache as players in a broad, complex arena in which control over their resources - and hence, over their lives - has been a central issue. He asserts that full control over their resources would address many of the Apache's contemporary economic problems." "The book provides a concise history of the Apache, from their prehistoric migration from the Subarctic through their interactions with Spanish, Mexican, Anglo-American, and indigenous Southwestern populations. It deals with such factors as the shift from gold to copper mining in Arizona, the local population's vested interest in a continuing military presence, the failure of peace initiatives, the appropriation of rich ore deposits and grazing land from the reservation, and the flooding of Apache farms for the benefit of agribusiness." "With its applicability to conflicts around the world between state systems and indigenous peoples, this book will be of interest to a wide public and scholarly audience. As in his previous works, Perry dispels the "warlike" Apache stereotype, showing them instead as competitors in a complex process of competition for control of ...
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