Customer Reviews

Atlas of the North American Indian, Revised Edition

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have always had an interest in the Native American history and tradition. I have bought several books in the past and been upset that they either seem to misrepresent the Indians or were too stereotypical. This book is not like that at all. In fact, this is one of the most informative, accurate and indispensable books that I have read regarding the Native American. The book covers almost every (if not every) Native American tribe known. Moreover, this book not only delineates their culture, locations, skills, history, etc., but it provides a chronology of prehistory and history of the Native American in one of the book's 7 appendices. This text provides the reader with information and facts about the ancient Indians, Geography (great maps), the art and technology, and even their clothing and transportation. This is definitely an invaluable tool for those who simply want to gain a greater understanding of Native Americans, or those who actually want to do some more serious research.

A good resource for any student entering the field of North American Indian studies, this book is carefully organised and rendered. Waldman traces the many facets that have been used to explain who the North American Indians were, how they lived and where. The text is clear and direct, well-suited to the novice in this area of study. The wealth of maps and other illustrative material well supports the narrative, although space restrictions force a certain level of clutter at times.

Waldman opens the book with a description of how humans arrived in the Western Hemisphere. The "Ancient Civilizations" of Mesoamerica, such as the Olmec and Maya are well summarised, before the author turns to the Southwest peoples - the Anasazi, Hohokan and Salado communities. He explains the often overlooked or poorly considered Moundbuilders of the Lower Midwest. The section on "Indian Lifeways" turns to areas like California, the Pacific Coast, and Subarcic regions. While these peoples didn't achieve the strongly hierarchical civilisations of Mesoamerica, their various social structures were complex and dynamic. Their economic systems allowed them to endure and they adapted well to change, something too often lacking in Mesoamerica. To a limited extent, the geography and environment hosting these people granted them the flexibility to maintain a dynamic society, even in precarious conditions.

One aspect of life they were poorly prepared for was the European intrusion. Waldman sets aside a section to introduce the problems introduced by European colonisation. The litany of wars and rebellions take up a hundred pages of the text. The accompanying maps showing battle sites sparkle with stars indicating clash sites. Some of these wars have almost disappeared from historical accounts of North American settlement. It's a good reminder of how the whites took over the hemisphere and what cost that hegemony extracted from the native population.

In time, war was replaced by "Land Cessions" and resettlement. The reservation system, never a fixed idea, is carefully explained by Waldman. The modern result of reservation communities and the ambivalent policies surrounding both the settlements and their populations gave rise to a new awareness among Indian people. The poor acknowledgement of Indian contributions in two world wars was but one of many irritants leading to "uprisings" at Wounded Knee and elsewhere. The author goes on to list major Indian government agencies and Indian organisations and facilities. Indian place names, often overlooked, are listed, with the modern "nation" structures for the US and Canada provided. In all, this book will be a firm base from which to expand a study of Indian circumstances for the future. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

It's actually hard, finding good books on American Indian topics that work in the classroom (I teach at a medium-sized public university). There are plenty of out-of-date books. Lots of terrible "pc" books. But few that actually convey information in an attractive and interesting fashion. This is definitely one of the latter type. The maps are clear, the illustrations accurate, and the amount of information presented is surprising. There's a tremendous amount of material packed between the covers of the "Atlas"---and it's a good deal more than a collection of maps. This is one of those books that some students---especially those planning on becoming teachers---may actually decide to keep. My own copy is well-worn from use, and often consult it to clear up questions both large and small. The best comprehensive source I've seen for this kind of money.

They weren't joking when they said this was an exhaustive book, information wise. It's incredible! Not only do you have maps of everything from migrations of tribes to peyote usage, you also have chapter after chapter of the different cultural groups, full of details about daily life, wars, conflicts with the white settlers, etc.

I use mine for reference--it's an amazing book. Get it!

This is the Atlas every school (college and university) library should have. Most classroom teachers and all who asssume the resonsibility of any kind of Native American studies .

Although it has a good deal of Canadian material and maps, I am less certain how well it compares to Native atlas sources that might be available from Canadian publishers, lacking such comparisons, I can still say it is a fine source for those educators who wish to give an indignous overview perspective.

As to be expected in an atlas, maps are the heart of the visual presentations of data. These maps are black outlines and hatchings, most often on brownish colored ground. All except for a few big 2-page spreads will photocopy all right for class handouts (though white backgrounds would have been preferable). They are well labeled.

Braun, a former real-property cartographer, has followed (and used many of the maps from) the classic renditions of Massey and Driver, to present physiographic features and cultural technologies of the pre-contact cultures. (The Massey-Driver maps are the only ones that are credited to a source, though I recognized sources for most of the others.) She reproduces only a few old maps, and those mostly for illustration.

The analytic maps are clear, accurate outlines, and include (for the U.S.) present-day reservations, land claims (U.S. claims commission), cessions, and many maps summarizing historical and cultural data.

For Canada, maps show all treaties in outline, but for present-day settlements, there is only the Canadian National Atlas Service folding map mess of some 2,400 specks, without even the numbers that correlate these with some 600 bands. Canadian Reserve maps are still wanting.

In addition to maps and many black-and-white illustrations, a text divided into 7 chapters gives coherence to the histories and cultures.

Chapter 1 covers very ancient times, prehistoric and (in the Beringia theory) conbtroversial among some of today's Natives who want to reject all migration theories in favor of cultural-religious accounts of tribal origins. This section is marred by uncritical acceptance of "Sandia man" now widely (and with many good reasons) regarded as an academic hoax. Ancient Civilizations covers those of Meso America, the southwest, and the Adena-Hopewell-Mississippian mound builders. Missing: Inuit-circumpolar.

Chapter 3 covers pre-contact culture areas, which examines lifeways, population density (noting the controversy there), and how art, technology, transportation, shelter, etc. grew in relation to the physical conditions of the various areas. Chapter 4 deals with early contacts, primarily in North America, concentrating on the fur trade. (Mexico and cultures south are abandoned at this point.)

Chapter 5 deals with Indian wars, from the Powhattan wars in what's now the U.S. through the Riel rebellions in late 19th-century Canada. Land cessions are covered in chapter 6. Chapter 7 covers concemporary Indian peoples in the U.S. and Canada, and includes interesting map-based analyses of Indian activism.

A 50-page appendix includes a chronology of important events, listings of tribes and bands of the U.S. and Canada with both historic and contemporary locations, a listing of places with Native names (U.S. and Canada), and a listing of museums and archaeological sites in both countries. A short (2-page) bibliography and an inadequate index complete the work, whose usefulness would have been improved by a "table of descriptions" for all the maps, as well as more complete sources for all of them.

Maps are catregorized by the authors as Historical, Military, Cultural, Contmporary, and Period, but the physiographic maps of Driver and Massey form a category themselves, and the maps are not tabulated or described except in their captions. Waldeman, the principal author, is former archivist for the New York State Historical Association, an amateur historian, and his wife is more an illustrator than a professional cartographer.

-- Reviewed by Paula Giese (Native American Books, http://www.fdl.cc.mn.us/~isk/books/bookmenu.html)

I bought this book because I needed to have a clearer geographical picture on the North American Indian Nations covered by "500 Nations" (the TV-series and the CD-ROM). What I got is a lot more than I expected! The title "Atlas..." is truly an understatement! This book covers the geography, the social and historical issues involved in the genesis and evolution of these Great Nations!

If you're looking for a very extensive reference work on the North American Indian Nations, buy this book!

Great maps explained by easy to understand text passages are the hallmarks of this user friendly and highly informative, not to mention interesting, book. I'm very impressed by Carl Waldman's work, which is characterised not by fawning apologias but by respectful insightful investigatory analysis.

Carl Waldman's Atlas Of The North American Indian appears in a revised edition blending maps and illustration with a survey of the history, culture, languages and lives of American Indians groups. Most illustration is in black and white, with invaluable articles packing the presentation.

"Atlas of the North American Indian" has been a very helpful resource in my studies of American tribes. I have endeavored in the past few years to create a comprehensive map of North American tribes at the point in which they were first discovered by those of European descent. This book by Carl Waldman has been extremely important in getting the information needed to further my project. Thank-you Mr. Waldman for writing such an informative work.

Not just maps, but a concise enclopedia of the North American
Indian, with brief but comprehensive coverage of
history, culture, languages, lifeways, the
impact of the European explorers and the subsequent
deterioration of native American life.

As conflict characterized the Indian experience in
historical times, wars are treated in considerable
detail, with basic sympathy to the natives' position
but with a welcome avoidance of stereotyping and
sentimentality.

With Facts On File's usual excellent maps, bibliography,
and index, and useful appendices with a chronology,
historical and contemporary locations, reservations,
museums, and more.

Essential for anyone interested in the
Indian experience, and highly recommended for the
reference shelf of the general reader.

(The numerical rating above is a default setting
within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not
employ numerical ratings.)