Customer Reviews

A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest (Civilization of the American Indian Series)

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This is not a book that can be read in any linear fashion. For the average lay reader it is primarily useful for the wonderful black-and-white photographs of members of almost every one of the 150 tribes described. And if you want to attend a special event of a particular tribe, the book will have that too. Otherwise, after 10 pages of straight reading, I was just overwhelmed with facts, figures and details, plus locations for which there was no corresponding map in the book, a real detriment, I think. Yes, there is a map showing the areas that the various tribes inhabited, but with no relation to present day locations at all. For the Pacific Northwest Indian student, this should definitely take a place on bookshelves as a reference tool. But for average folk, perhaps one of the many suggested readings would be more appropriate. A great overall encyclopedia of the tribes.

A fine book with plenty of research to back it up. However, I must point out the book's glaring error - the Cascades Indian tribe is *not* extinct. Many descendants still live on in the Yakama and Warm Springs reservations and in the Columbia River Gorge.

Dr. Robert Ruby has done comprehensive research on our heritage.

He and John Brown are the most neglected historians of our time.

Do yourself a favor.

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