Includes bibliographical references and index.

"In the landmark 1978 case Oliphant v. Suquamish, the Supreme Court ruled that no Indian tribe can lawfully prosecute non-Indians. This decision had far-reaching effects in subsequent disputes about the jurisdiction of American Indian tribes, the terms of their relationship to the United States, their powers as political entities, and the significance of Indian reservations. Yet, even though few developments have highlighted the tensions, hopes, and fears associated with American Indians' unique political-legal status as clearly as contemporary tribal governments' assertion of jurisdiction over non-Indians, that subject hasn't received the attention it deserves from historians. The Non-Indian Problem recounts the history of tribes' desire for inclusive jurisdiction and the circumstances that encouraged them finally to act on that desire in the twentieth century. The manuscript focuses on the legal battles of the Quinault and Suquamish tribes beginning in the 1960s and culminating in the 1978 decision, with an epilogue addressing the consequences of that ruling"--