Indian Country, God's Country

"The mythology of "gifted land" is strong in the National Park Service, but some of our greatest parks were "gifted," by people who had little if any choice in the matter. Places like the Grand Canyon's south rim and Glacier had to be bought, finagled, borrowed - or taken by force - when Indian occupants and owners resisted the call to contribute to the public welfare. The story of national parks and Indians is, depending on perspective, a costly triumph of the public interest, or a bitter betrayal of America's native people." "In Indian Country, God's Country historian Philip Burnham traces …