"Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is one of the most important intertribal political organizations of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.

"This is the first full-length history of the NCAI. Drawing upon newly available NCAI records and oral interviews with founding members, Thomas W. Cowger tells the story of the founding and critical first two decades of this important organization.

He presents the many accomplishments of and great challenges to the NCAI, examines its role in the development of Native political activism, and explores its relationships to contemporaneous events such as the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the civil rights movement."--BOOK JACKET.