"Spirit Wars" is an exploration of the ways in which the destruction of spiritual practices and beliefs of native people in North America has led to conditions of collective suffering - a process sometimes referred to as cultural genocide. Ronald Niezen approaches this topic through wide-ranging case studies involving different colonial powers and state governments: the seventeenth-century Spanish occupation of the Southwest, the colonization of the Northeast by the French and British, nineteenth-century westward expansion and nationalism in the swelling United States and Canada, and twentieth-century struggles for native people's spiritual integrity and freedom. Each chapter deals with a specific dimension of the relationship between native people and non-native institutions, and together these topics yield a new understanding of the forces directed against the underpinnings of native cultures.

Contributions by: Kim Burgess, Manley Begay, Phyllis Fast, Valerie Long Lambert, Michael V. Wilcox, Bernard Perley