An account of Native American literature and the critical writings that have grown up around it. This work considers racial and cultural "essentialism," the ambiguous position of non-Native critics in the field, cultural "sovereignty" and "property," and the place of Native American culture in a so-called multicultural era.

The final chapter, "A Nice Jewish Boy among the Indians," presents the author's effort to balance his Jewish and working-class heritage, his adherence to Western "critical" ideals, and his ongoing loyalty to the values of Native cultures. Arnold Krupat, a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College, is the author of "Ethnocriticism: Ethnography, History, Literature".