This work investigates the origins, cultural significance, and socio-political impact of the 1890 Ghost Dance movement within the broader context of American Indian revitalization efforts. Alice Beck Kehoe, a prominent anthropologist with extensive field experience, utilizes an ethnohistorical framework to synthesize primary source accounts and ethnographic data. She argues that these movements were not merely reactions to colonial pressure but were sophisticated expressions of indigenous religious innovation and cultural resilience.

Scholars and students of anthropology frequently cite this text as a foundational resource for understanding the intersection of history and indigenous religious practice. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of complex cultural phenomena.