Crow's Dog Case is the first social history of American Indians' role in the making of American law. This book sheds new light on Native American struggles for sovereignty and justice in nineteenth-century America. The 'century of dishonor', a time when American Indians' lands were lost and their tribes reduced to reservations, provoked a wide variety of tribal responses. Some of the more succesful responses were in the area of law, forcing the newly independent American legal order to create a unique place for Indian tribes in American law. Although the United States has a system of law structuring a unique position for American Indians, they have been left out of American legal history. Crow Dog, Crazy Snake, Sitting Bull, Bill Whaley, Tla-coo-yeo-oe, Isparhecher, Lone Wolf, and others had their own jurisprudence, kept alive by their own legal traditions.

"Regardless of differences in historical interpretation, few will doubt Harring's conclusions. He has shed insights into nineteenth century tribal legal processes, and that alone is a worthy contribution to legal scholarship of nineteenth century Native American history and he accomplished that task by writing an informative, questioning story." Richmond L. Clow, Great Plains Research

"...a trenchant reminder of the absolutely central role that history--for better or worse--plays in the enterprise of Indian Law." Frank Pommersheim, Journal of American History

"...provides a valuable foundation for understanding the complexities of the legal relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes....Harring's work shows what a rich field of study this can be." Raymond J. DeMallie, Indiana Magazine of History