About the Author

Alison R. Bernstein is Vice President of the Education, Media, Arts and Culture Program at the Ford Foundation and was previously Associate Dean of Faculty at Princeton University.

Reviews

Bernstein, an associate dean at Princeton University, contends WW II wielded the greatest impact of any event or period of this century on government policy regarding Native Americans. Once called the country's most isolated minority, Native Americans entered the mainstream during the war period, 1940-1945, with some 25,000 joining the military and another 40,000 entering the wartime work force. In this scholarly and extensively researched study, Bernstein observes that Native Americans' involvement overseas and on the homefront decreased their dependency on the Bureau of Indian Affairs and inspired a new political awareness directed toward self-determination. While Native American engagement in WW II may have suggested increased assimilation, the author writes that Native American roots in tribalism remain strong. (June)

Little has been written about the activities of Native Americans during World War II. Bernstein's book, an outgrowth of her dissertation, covers not only wartime activities but also the difficulties that Native Americans faced after they returned from the war. Also discussed is the effect that government agencies had on American Indian activities. The book has much useful information and an outstanding bibli ography that will provide researchers with research leads. Though the material is interesting, those with little or no prior knowledge of American Indian history will find it difficult going. For college and university libraries. (Index and illustrations not seen.)-- Danna C. Bell, Marymount Univ. Libs., Arlington, Va.