Dunbar-Ortiz is looking for reasons why the founding ideology of the US proved so deadly for the indigenous peoples living here. A little known and astounding fact is that to this day the US follows the Doctrine of Discovery developed by the Pope for Portugal and Spain and then used by the modern colonial powers. The Doctrine of Discovery treats indigenous land as unoccupied and ready for the taking as long as Christians were not present. The US Supreme Court, as recently as 2005, relied on the Doctrine of Discovery to limit the sovereignty of the Oneida Nation.
Dunbar-Ortiz also explains the role of the military in the suppression and re-education of Native Peoples. First Indians were driven into Concentration Camps under the Department of War, later Reservations were "civilianized" under the Department of the Interior.