A Nation Within

Reviews / Votes

'Rosser's book provides an insightful examination of the history, laws and forces, both internal and external, that have shaped the Navajo Nation, along with a powerful assessment the Nation's future. With detailed attention to the broader historical, legal, and policy context of indigenous peoples in the United States, this work will be of wide interest to scholars, students, practitioners, and the general public.' S. James Anaya, Professor and Dean Emeritus, University of Colorado Law School, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and author of Indigenous Peoples in International Law (2004) 'Navajo land may look lifeless to the outsider, but A Nation Within shows that the land contains the wealth and hopes of a powerful nation. Rosser provides a much needed analysis of Navajo Nation's land rights and challenges misconceptions of the Dine peoples' relationship to their land.' Wendy S. Greyeyes (Dine), Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Native American Studies, University of New Mexico 'Rosser's tightly woven study examines the century-long Dine (Navajo) struggle to find a practical balance within the often conflicting and competitive aspects of exercised sovereignty - political, territorial, and economic. Hard lessons learned while negotiating a path through these ongoing tensions must be applied if the Dine hope to achieve mature and deliberative self-determination in the next hundred years - and beyond.' David E. Wilkins (Lumbee), Professor of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, and author of The Navajo Political Experience 'Ezra Rosser is a treasure. A Nation Within is a sensitive and provocative account of the Navajo Nation, as a government, and the Dine people, as a complex community of real people who have faced (and are still facing) challenges both external and internal to the Nation with incredible resilience. Rosser does not mince words. His account is not romantic. He ventures directly into the honest, on-the-ground messiness inherent when governments have to make hard choices - as the Navajo Nation has done time again, including in making the controversial environmental and economic trade-offs that Rosser so deftly describes. Rosser's account will change how we think not only about tribal land governance but also about the potential for more localized land reform and development. This is essential reading in our current political moment. There is much Americans can learn from this story of the Navajo Nation and from Rosser himself.' Jessica A. Shoemaker, Professor of Law, University of Nebraska College of Law