At the beginning of The Gods of Indian Country: Religion and the Struggle for the American West, Jennifer Graber expresses trepidation about writing a “big book” (xi). Despite her worries about tackling such a complex topic, Graber deftly weaves together multiple strands of American and Kiowa religious history over the course of the nineteenth century. Graber makes two main arguments about the long and conflicted relationship between the Kiowas and Americans. First, she argues that so-called “friends of the Indian” presented their program of cultural and religious change as benevolent and peaceful. This “friendship,” however, obscured “their role in violent and coercive expansion” (12). Second, Graber chronicles the ways in which Kiowas used sacred power to resist American settler colonialism and imperialism. In both cases, Graber argues that religion was “central to Americans’ acquisition of Indian lands, as well as Kiowa efforts to defend their sovereignty and secure their community's survival in the face of American territorial expansion” (13).

Graber divides her book into three chronological sections, each covering roughly a third of the nineteenth century. All three sections describe the main events of that time period from both a Kiowa and an American perspective. Part 1, “Open Lands,” begins with the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase and ends in 1867 with the Treaty of Medicine Lodge, which created the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache reservation in present-day Oklahoma. Part 2, “Closed Lands,” covering 1868–1881, discusses reservation life, Grant's Peace Policy, and Kiowa responses to Quaker cultural and religious conversion efforts. Finally, part 3, “Divided Lands,” covering 1882–1903, focuses on efforts to dissolve the Kiowa reservation and break tribal bonds. Her introduction and epilogue both describe sacred ceremonies—a Sun Dance and a celebration of the Kiowa Black Leggings warrior society respectively—indicating the continued importance of sacred power, despite a century of oppression. Although chronological, each section (as well as the introduction and conclusion) covers the same themes, especially the important role that religion played in the colonial encounter. “Friends of the Indian” professed to offer salvation, but they instead attempted to destroy Kiowa culture, religion, and their land base. When faced with colonial efforts by both “friends” and foes, Graber stresses Kiowa strength and adaptability, especially with regard to sacred power through rituals like the Sun Dance.

The Gods of Indian Country has multiple strengths. First, many tribal histories focus on how native peoples responded to American Indian laws, court rulings, and other policies. Certainly, Graber provides a clear summary of how United States Indian policy (removal; treaties; boarding schools; imprisonment in St. Augustine, Florida; and the Dawes Act, for instance) affected the Kiowa over the course of the nineteenth century. Graber argues, however, that these events also need to be told from the Kiowa perspective. After discussing Jackson's Indian removal, the Dawes Act, and the Treaty of Medicine Lodge, Graber follows each with a section analyzing the Kiowa's point of view. Almost every section starkly notes that the two sides interpreted the same issue very differently, frequently beginning her section noting that the “Kiowas . . . did not see it that way” or the Kiowa had a “different perspective” (74, 87). In many cases, especially in the early nineteenth century, the United States had little to do with the Kiowa, who formed intertribal alliances and orchestrated raids based on their own political and economic needs with little—or no—thought to Washington D.C.

Second, Native American history is often presented as a separate part of United States history. Graber challenges this limited interpretation, arguing that Kiowa history was part of larger nineteenth century debates over diversity, citizenship, and inclusion. Thus, she links Native American with African American, immigrant, and Mormon history. As Graber notes: “Debates about Indian civilization and citizenship paralleled broader discussions about other marginalized populations” (78). Her chapters include numerous references to Reconstruction, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and responses to Mormon polygamy, for instance, to illustrate the shared experiences between all marginalized peoples at the time.

Finally, Graber's research is both impeccable and groundbreaking. Her sections detailing American policy and missionization efforts utilize traditional written documents, including government and missionary records, newspaper articles, and written journals. Her sections on the Kiowa, however, are largely based on visual sources, such as calendars, ledger drawings, tipis, shields, and other types of artwork. The book reproduces multiple images of Kiowa drawings and objects, both in black and white renditions throughout the chapters and in several color panels in the center of the book. The visual images help the reader to connect with history from a Kiowa perspective.

Jennifer Graber illustrates the centrality that religion played on the southern plains throughout the nineteenth century. On one hand, Protestantism and Catholicism contributed to the dispossession of native peoples, despite their claims of “friendship.” On the other, Kiowa adapted sacred power to help survive the changing world around them. The Gods of Indian Country is an important book that is suitable for graduate classes in American Indian history and American religious studies.