Faith in Paper

Faith in Paper examines the reinstitution of Indian treaty rights in the upper Great Lakes region during the last quarter of the twentieth century, focusing on the treaties and legal cases that together have awakened a new day in Native American sovereignty and established the place of Indian tribes in the modern political landscape. The book discusses the development of Indian treaties in historic time and their social and legal context; specific treaties regarding hunting, fishing, and gathering rights as well as reservation issues; and the impact of treaty litigation on the modern Indian and non-Indian communities of the Great Lakes region. The book is both an important contribution to the scholarship of Indian legal matters and a rich resource for Indians themselves as they strive to retain or regain rights that have eroded over the years.

"Charles E. Cleland is arguably one of the most important figures in American archaeology in the latter third of the 20th century."
—John Robert Halsey, State Archaeologist, Michigan Historical Society

Praise for Place of the Pike

". . . if Michigan history, or more importantly, native American history in Michigan interests you, this is a keeper."
—Ludington Daily News

Charles E. Cleland is Michigan State University emeritus professor of anthropology and former curator of anthropology and ethnology. He has been an expert witness in numerous Native American land claims and fishing rights cases and written a number of other books on the subject, including Rites of Conquest: The History and Culture of Michigan’s Native Americans, Place of the Pike: A History of the Bay Mills Indian Community, and Fish in the Lakes, Wild Rice, and Game in Abundance: Testimony on Behalf of Mille Lacs Ojibwe Hunting and Fishing Rights.

Praise / Awards

• "Written over the last five years, this 390-page book is the first comprehensive examination of 18 primary and 21 secondary treaty court cases in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota."
  —Loraine Anderson, Traverse City Record-Eagle

• "Faith in Paper... deftly blends ethnohistory with jurisprudence to reveal a complex narrative of cultural interaction between Native Americans and settlers."
  —Andrew Dietzel, Central Michigan University, The Michigan Historical Review