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While Deloria believes that White Americans have played Indian to both create and reshape their existence as Americans, it is not entirely clear at the end of his book how big a role these peculiar practices have played in defining a unique White American identity. Have these practices by White Americans helped shape this identity or have they only fiddled with the margins? The most convincing argument Deloria makes in his book is that playing Indian helped Indians reassert control over their communities and culture by sparking Indian separatism in the 1960s and 1970s. Ultimately, it is utterly impossible to determine what role, if any, playing Indian has had in shaping America’s identity.

[[Category:Book Review]] [[Category:Historiography]] [[Category:United States History]]