Customer Reviews

Choctaw Genesis, 1500-1700 (Indians of the Southeast)

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Patricia Galloway makes an effort to explore the early pre European Choctaw tribe in her book Choctaw Genesis. It is an excellent example of the limitless possibilities and limitless failures of ethnohistory. The Choctaw were a tribe that were spread between Alabama and Mississippi and came into contact of all three European powers on the north American continent. Galloway uses archeological, cartographical, linguistic and culture studies to try and gain an understanding of who and where the Choctaw were located in this time period. One of the flaws of this book for those who want to learn about the tribe itself is that it glazes over many studies without fully explaining the implications. For those who do not have an understanding of ethnohistory or have not read studies of this type it is way to convoluted. I had a very hard time following the importance of many things she was talking about as the significance of the archaeological or anthropological findings was not flushed out in detail. Overall this is probably a five star book if you are into ethnohistory or a one star book if you know nothing about Indians and are trying to learn something about the Choctaw tribe.