Within the context of U.S.-Indian law, federal acknowledgment establishes a trust relationship between an Indian tribe and the U.S. government. As a result of that trust, the tribe receives significant benefits, including tax-exempt status, reclamation rights, and--of perhaps greatest modern-day interest to the American public--the right to administer and profit from its own casinos.

Some tribes, however, have not been federally acknowledged, or, in more common language, "recognized." In "Cash, Color, and Colonialism," Renee Ann Cramer offers a comprehensive analysis of the federal...