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Indians of California: The Changing Image

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....and one I'm surprised hasn't been reviewed here before.

If you want to understand the shifting perspectives of Spanish conquerers, European settlers, and American heirs of colonized California toward its Native inhabitants, then start with this readable outline, which traces these shifts over time with numerous quotations and documentary examples of how the whites perceived their "root-digger" neighbors.

What makes this book particularly convincing is that it refuses either to demonize all white efforts on behalf of Native rights or to idealize them as so many of the early missionaries did, righteously convinced they were helping and uplifting the very people who were dying in the thousands of violence, culture shock, and European diseases against which they had no defense.

This book belongs on every shelf dedicated to the history of California.