This comparative history of the Southern Ute and Mountain Ute peoples demonstrates how two culturally and historically related tribes, living side by side in southwestern Colorado, have taken very different paths in the modern era. Historian Richard K. Young makes a unique contribution to twentieth-century American Indian studies in his exploration of Colorado’s two remaining tribes’ divergent responses to federal Indian policies and changing economic and social conditions since passage of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934.

This book, which includes a review of the Utes’ precontact and nineteenth-century history, is based on primary research in U. S. and tribal documents, interviews with tribal members, and the few available secondary sources. By examining the Ute experience, Young highlights the dilemmas faced by all tribes with respect to economic development, energy and water resources, cultural identity and adaptation, spiritual life, tribal politics, and the struggle for tribal self-determination.