Customer Reviews

The Calusa and Their Legacy: South Florida People and Their Environments (Native Peoples, Cultures, and Places of the Southeastern United States)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent book. It's about a vanished people, the Calusa Indians of Southwest Florida. And it is written by two people who best know the Calusa story. From the Florida Natural History Museum, Darcie MacMahon (exhibits director) and William Marquardt (curator and archaeologist) have produced a book for general readership that is truly readable. Its few technical terms are well explained. Scientific names are there if you want them, but above all, THE CALUSA AND THEIR LEGACY tells, in clear language, the fascinating story of a fierce and powerful people who disappeard 200 years ago.

The book paints a broad picture. It starts with the bountiful estuary environment where these people lived, tells of the food they harvested, their religious beliefs, their weapons and their battles with the Spanish. Then, when the Calusa were no more, this remarkable book goes on to answer the question: "What happened next?"

Finally, the book gives us a look at what is happening to this land of plenty - a land that supported people for 6,000 years - today.

Excellent photos and illustrations bring the story to life. In addition to adult readers, the book is quite suitable for students grades nine and up.

What a great way to learn!

Are you a Floridian or thinking about moving to Florida, particularly in the southern portion of the state? Then you must read "The Calusa and Their Legacy: South Florida People And Their Environments..." -- the definitive book on the Calusa. Darcie A. Macmahon and Dr. William H. Marquardt, an expert on the Calusa, have written a fascinating book that brings to life a group of people who disappeared from Florida in the 1700s. For hundreds of years, the Calusa built a society that had its own government, a religion, and adaptation to the environment that is quite impressive. On the one hand, the Calusa were warriors, practiced human sacrifices, and held spiritual beliefs which included communing with the dead. On the other hand, they governed a growing population, accomplished engineering feats of dredging canals through entire islands, were expert fisherman, and utilized shells and bones that would become tools, weapons and ornaments. They lived entirely off the land and waters, eating small game and fish of many varieties. They had no agriculture; none was needed, as they learned to live off what nature provided. These self-sufficient people did well until the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. History books report that when Juan Ponce de Leon visited Southwest Florida in the early part of the 1500s, on his second expedition Calusa arrows wounded him. He fled to Cuba, where he later died from those wounds. As the Spanish began to visit Florida with more frequency, the Calusa were beginning to be eased from their homeland. By the mid-1700s, they were no more. Read this fascinating book to learn where the Calusa may have gone to, and why there are no Calusa in the state today.

I live on Marco Island FL and was interested in learning about the Calusa indians; therefore, I bought this book. Very disappointing. The title should be "Propoganda for Environmental Action". Don't get me wrong, I am very much a nature enthusiast having been raised on a farm and worked outside most of my life and enjoy and respect nature. However, I dislike misreprensation which the title of this book is. It does have some good descriptions of the aquatic life in South West Florida, but that is not what I wanted to read about.

In summary, if you want to learn about Calusa Indians, read something else such as the Wikipedia article about them.