In the 1970s the Quinault and Suquamish, like dozens of Indigenous nations across the United States, asserted their sovereignty by applying their laws to everyone on their reservations. This included arresting non-Indians for minor offenses, and two of those arrests triggered federal litigation that had big implications for Indian tribes? place in the American political system. Tribal governments had long sought to manage affairs in their territories, and their bid for all-inclusive reservation jurisdiction was an important, bold move, driven by deeply rooted local histories as well as pan-Indian activism. They believed federal law supported their case.

In a 1978 decision that reverberated across Indian country and beyond, the Supreme Court struck a blow to their efforts by ruling in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe that non-Indians were not subject to tribal prosecution for criminal offenses. The court cited two centuries of US legal history to justify their decision but relied solely on the interpretations of non-Indians.

In Reclaiming the Reservation, Alexandra Harmon delves into Quinault, Suquamish, and pan-tribal histories to illuminate the roots of Indians? claim of regulatory power in their reserved homelands. She considers the promises and perils of relying on the US legal system to address the damage caused by colonial dispossession. She also shows how tribes have responded since 1978, seeking and often finding new ways to protect their interests and assert their sovereignty.

Reclaiming the Reservation is the 2020 winner of the Robert G. Athearn Prize for a published book on the twentieth-century American West, presented by the Western History Association.

Like all good historiography, the story is rich in people with big ideas and chutzpah who beat their heads against convention and established institutions...Reclaiming the Reservation gives them proper recognition as the yeast that gave western Washington tribes the confidence to reassert their cultural and political identities and reclaim collective power in the twentieth century.

[T]his clearly written and detailed book... is much more than the story of one lost case. It also documents the ongoing activism and ingenuity of the Quinault and the Suquamish communities and shows, most importantly, what happened outside of the courtroom?in congressional hearings, forests, universities, tribal offices, beaches, intertribal meetings, conferences, and fishing grounds.

[A] surprisingly well-balanced look at how tribes have weathered colonialism as tribal nations continue to examine ways to affirm their sovereignty.

Reclaiming the Reservation should be essential reading for anyone interested in federal Indian law and policy andis useful for those who want to know more about how historians and judges tell stories about the past.

Harmon examines the landmark Supreme Court case Oliphant v. Suquamish from the Native perspective and situates that infamous ruling within the broader context of American Indian history, emphasizing tribal agency in the quest for meaningful self-rule.Alexandra Harmon

Harmon brilliantly explains how tribal nations have sought to assert sovereignty through the extension of civil and criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians living within the boundaries of their nations. Reclaiming the Reservation is precisely the kind of history that the field desperately needs.

This book illuminates the problem of Indian jurisdiction over non-Indians within reservation boundaries, demonstrating with piercing clarity the ever-changing terrain of tribal governance vis a vis states and the federal government.

Reclaiming the Reservations is a masterpiece, and nothing short of it. Alexandra Harmon?s fair, deeply insightful, and brightly written book addresses the central objectives of modern Indian nations in a fashion never done before.

Alexandra Harmon is professor of American Indian studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of Rich Indians: Native People and the Problem of Wealth in American History and editor of The Power of Promises: Perspectives on Pacific Northwest Indian Treaties.

Why do US citizens ? from drunk street brawlers to Supreme Court Justices ? object to Indian tribes? maintaining law and order on reservations when that means police powers over non-Indians? Learn the facts the Supreme Court ignored.

[Harmon] provides an informative context behind the 1978 Oliphant v. Suquamish decision, which removed tribal jurisdictions over non-Indians. This background elucidates the history of tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians, numerous court decisions favoring tribal sovereignty, the evolution of Indian-issue lawyers, tribal decision makers, the place of activists in the campaigns for sovereignty, and case studies of both the Quinault and Suquamish reservation issues. Students of policy and law will benefit from the extensive analysis of the Oliphant case, which includes plausible alternative approaches that might have made the tribal position more effective.

Reclaiming the Reservation offers an unmatched synopsis of Native American sovereignty cases in a rich historical narrative that emphasizes Indigenous activism. Harmon moves seamlessly between local and national efforts, successfully articulating legal arguments in a human context... [S]imply an exceptional contribution that makes plain an otherwise-complicated field.