Off the Reservation gives us the best of Allen's political essays, literary criticism, and personal reflections. In section one, "Haggles/gynosophies" (haggles being a persuasive speech in which a hag engages), Allen offers powerful critiques of the Western social constructs of proprietorship, literacy, individualism, and "rape culture" contrasted with the communal and spiritual connection to the earth that characterizes native societies. "Wyrds/orthographies" presents some of the best analysis of Native American literature of the late twentieth century, including the work of N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Mary Tallmountain.