For the cover, Treuer writes that while some Native Americans, like himself, remain near the parks, and are of the parks, the land is not theirs. “We live in a time of historical reconsideration, as more and more people recognize that the sins of the past still haunt the present,” he writes. “For Native Americans, there can be no better remedy for the theft of land than land. And for us, no lands are as spiritually significant as the national parks. They should be returned to us. Indians should tend—and protect and preserve—these favored gardens again.”
Ultimately, he argues, all 85 million acres of national-park sites should be turned over to a consortium of federally recognized tribes in the United States. “The total acreage would not quite make up for the General Allotment Act, which robbed us of 90 million acres, but it would ensure that we have unfettered access to our tribal homelands. And it would restore dignity that was rightfully ours. To be entrusted with the stewardship of America’s most precious landscapes would be a deeply meaningful form of restitution.”