The book deals with history and cultures, ethnocentric tendencies and changes in the context of contemporary politics of a selected group of North-East Indian tribes, who may be regarded as test cases for setting up a healthy democratic system that may be able to accommodate differential cultural expressions. While describing their history of migration, distinctive socio-cultural features, problems of development and the like, it makes a special efforts to understand the ongoing process of assertion of distinct ethnocultural identities by the respective tribes, which in some cases is given a louder and more affirmative expression. In such cases, as the author contends., the tribals cannot automatically be drawn into the political structure of a higher order it. It is for from a smooth affair and the internal compulsions of the concerned people make it all the more difficult.