Vine Deloria, Jr., is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota and the author of many books including Custer Died for Your Sins and God Is Red. He is Professor of History at the University of Colorado where he teaches courses in religion and philosophy. He is the former director of the National Congress of American Indians and the first Indian to serve as a Christian denominational executive.

An Old Crow chief, asked about the difference between the Native American way of life and that of the whites, responded that for the first, there were visions and for the latter, there were only ideas. This scholarly and passionate collection of 30 years of Deloria's writings covers his career as an activist, author, and educator. The essays are divided into five groupings — white church, red power; liberating theology; worldviews in collision; habits of the state; and old ways in a new world.

Deloria writes cogently about the Indian protest movement; the U.S. violation of covenants with tribes; the important differences between Native American and white worldviews; the controversial retention of the human remains and burial offerings of American Indians by museums, federal agencies, and curio shops; and the struggle by Indians to protect their sacred sites and to have access to them for traditional ceremonies. For This Land by Vine Deloria, Jr., is required reading for all those interested in Native American spirituality.