Passage in 1990 of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) by the United States Congress will be recognized by Native Americans and anthropologists as a key event in the last half of the 20th century and beyond. Although I expect to see many future books written on this topic, Kathleen Fine-Dare is one of the first anthropologists to focus directly on the pre- and post-NAGPRA processes. She states that her monograph offers “a partial retrospective and a cautious perspective” (p. 7) regarding the implementation, complexities, and far-reaching consequences of the NAGPRA. She does not have an easy task, and many readers will note omissions both positive and negative that have made the NAGPRA an emotionally charged issue.

Fine-Dare divides her case study into two main parts. In part 1, she focuses on the “Historical and Legal Contexts of the Repatriation Movement.” She notes that the object collecting and museum building associated with colonial expansion have not been strictly phenomena of the United States but were carried out by many European powers. Fine-Dare discusses how military domination of indigenous Americans was backed by philosophical and, later, scientific justification for ascribing inferiority to disappearing and “dying” native cultures relative to Europeans. She describes many instances illustrating how and why the acquisition of Native American cultural and religious objects as well as human remains became a standard practice of the dominant Euro-American society.

Unfortunately, however, Fine-Dare’s attempts to describe the numerous instances of horrific treatment of American Indians make part 1 overly convoluted and complicated. Although examining these facts is clearly important, the disastrous consequences of Native American and Euro-American interactions have been extensively and thoroughly documented by other writers, both Native and non-Native. Fine-Dare’s attempt to tell readers as much as possible about the oppression, the natural historization, and the subsequent political struggles of indigenous peoples makes part 1 uneven and creates large sections of text that often seem incomplete. I often felt that my time would have been better spent rereading books by Vine Deloria, Peter Mathiessen, or David Hurst Thomas as well as many others or tuning into National Native News or Native America Calling to hear these issues debated in real time. I would have preferred that Fine-Dare spend less time on these well-known historical issues and more time explaining some of her insightful anthropological observations. For example, she notes how Native Americans were pushed aside as the legitimate caretakers and authorities of their cultural history only to be replaced by the federal government, in the guise of either the Smithsonian Institution or the National Park Service. Another higher-order issue concerns the interaction between Native religions and the NAGPRA process. Fine-Dare briefly offers native voices who succinctly state the absurdity of U.S. governmental policies requiring Native Americans to justify why an object must have cultural or religious significance before it can be repatriated. Exploring these higher-order questions is where Fine-Dare could have made a stronger intellectual and consciousness-raising contribution to anthropology.

In part 2, Fine-Dare provides an insider’s view, from her former position as chair, of how the anthropology department at Fort Lewis College in Colorado attempted to negotiate the nuances of NAGPRA compliance. Individuals who have been involved in this process will recognize the frustrations, difficulties, and, one hope’s, the rewards experienced by Fine-Dare and her colleagues as they met for the first time with representatives from different tribes to discuss repatriation.

What I find particularly compelling both in part 2 and in the entire book is that Fine-Dare manages to convey the incredible burden and responsibility placed on Native tribes to retrieve, manage, and protect what clearly belongs to them, particularly as that process involves the presentation of their cultural history to outsiders. She notes that repatriation is a difficult process for all involved, but especially for Native Americans who, to have their cultural heritage repatriated, are often forced to review and confront the long list of atrocities, war crimes, human rights abuses, racism, and one-sided government policies that have led to their subsequent treatment as far less than second-class citizens in a land where they were once the majority. Fine-Dare highlights the concerns voiced by numerous tribal governments that repatriation issues can pit different tribes against each other, especially when opposing claims may affect larger issues such as land rights.

In part 2, Fine-Dare touches on several questions that require greater exploration in the future. One issue is how anthropologists adhere to previously created social constructs for grouping Native Americans (e.g., Puebloan, non-Puebloan) that some Native Americans think are not legitimate. Such issues, I think, cut to the core of what the NAGPRA legislation should actually mean to anthropologists. Instead of viewing NAGPRA as a negative imposition, anthropologists should see it as an opportunity to forge partnerships in which all parties involved are on equal terms. Such equal footing raises an additional higher-order issue briefly discussed by Fine-Dare, that of intellectual and cultural property rights. I wish Fine-Dare had devoted more discussion to these issues.

I commend Fine-Dare for highlighting the contentious but important issues surrounding the impetus and implementation of the NAGPRA and its subsequent and continuing impact on the Native and academic communities. As the NAGPRA is a hot-button issue, writing a book on this topic that is not provocative and controversial is almost impossible. Although most of the NAGPRA-related issues discussed by Fine-Dare are extremely important, overall, her book is somewhat disappointing. Fine-Dare does not appear to have conducted any of her own original interviews with either Natives or anthropologists participating in the NAGPRA process. Although such interviews may have been difficult to conduct, Fine-Dare is in an opportune geographical and professional location in southwest Colorado to add these different “Voices” and could have expanded all sections of her book with such interviews. However, I am sure that many anthropologists, including myself, will use Fine-Dare’s book in future classes.