"A welcome edition to the library of anyone interested in the history of the Ute."-Curtis Martin, Southwestern Lore “Beautifully written, clear, and compelling. [This book] is grounded on a solid understanding of history, while also providing insightful interpretation and theoretical nuance.”-Suzanne Crawford O’Brien, professor of religion and culture at Pacific Lutheran University and author of Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness among Native Communities in the Pacific Northwest“This terrific book shows how white settlers in Colorado used the construct of ‘Ute Land Religion’ to justify their appropriation of Native land, how Ute people both resisted and participated in that invention, and how the category of religion has functioned in the making and remaking of the American West.”-Tisa Wenger, author of We Have a Religion: The 1920s Pueblo Indian Dance Controversy and American Religious Freedom