This led to internal conflict among Native American tribes as valuable hunting territory (with the associated economic dominance derived from access to such lands) became increasingly more contested.

Blackhawk explained that these violent confrontations constituted an insurgency, which expanded to include attacks on British supply lines along Forbes Road between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

However, by the early 1800s, after the American Revolution and a more robust White settler expansion westwards with financial and military support from the federal government, most Native peoples were dispossessed of their lands and forced West of the Mississippi River.

By 1880, with a newly created transcontinental railroad and a surge of settler expansion further westward, partly driven by gold, silver and copper mining, Native peoples lost their remaining lands and were relegated to living in designated reservations.

The book also highlights modern day accomplishments in the Native American civil rights movement, including reservations gaining more economic and political influence on the national stage.

Writing for The New York Times, Alan Taylor states that the book "benefits from Blackhawk's wide and savvy reading of the many scholars who, during the last 50 years, have restored Native peoples to their prominent place within a fuller, richer American history.