The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area [Paperback]

Malcolm Margolin (Author), Michael Harney (Illustrator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0930588010 | ISBN-13: 978-0930588014 | Publication Date: August 1, 1981 | Edition: Second printing

Included in the San Francisco Chronicle's Top 100 Non-fiction books of the century <P>Two hundred years ago, herds of elk and antelope dotted the hills of the San Francisco-Monterey Bay area. Grizzly bears lumbered down to the creeks to fish for silver salmon and steelhead trout. From vast marshlands geese, ducks, and other birds rose in thick clouds "with a sound like that of a hurricane." This land of "inexpressible fertility," as one early explorer described it, supported one of the densest Indian populations in all of North America. <P>One of the most ground-breaking and highly-acclaimed titles that Heyday has published, _The Ohlone Way _ describes the culture of the Indian people who inhabited Bay Areas prior to the arrival of Europeans. Recently included in the San Francisco Chronicle's "Top 100 Western Non-Fiction" list, _The Ohlone Way_ has been described by critic Pat Holt as a "mini-classic."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Margolin does not give way to romanticism or political harangues... the illustrations have a gritty quality..." -- Choice<br /><br />"A beautiful book, written and illustrated with a genuine sympathy....A serious and compelling re-creation." -- The Pacific Sun<br /><br />"One of three books that brought me the most joy over the past year." -- Alice Walker<br /><br />"Remarkable insight into the lives of the Ohlone Indians." -- San Francisco Chronicle<br /><br />"[Margolin] has written thoroughly and sensitively of the Pre-Mission Indians in a North American land of plenty. Excellent, well-written." --American Anthropologist

From the Publisher

Included in the San Francisco Chronicle's Top 100 Non-fiction books of the century.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Heyday Books; Second printing edition (August 1, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930588010
• ISBN-13: 978-0930588014
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Malcolm Margolin is executive director of Heyday, an independent nonprofit publisher and unique cultural institution, which he founded in 1974. Margolin is author of several books, including The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area, named by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the hundred most important books of the twentieth century by a western writer. He has received dozens of prestigious awards among which are the Fred Cody Award Lifetime Achievement from the San Francisco Bay Area Book Reviewers Association, the Helen Crocker Russell Award for Community Leadership from the San Francisco Foundation, the Carey McWilliams Award for Lifetime Achievement from the California Studies Association, an Oscar Lewis Award for Western History from the Book Club of California, a Hubert Bancroft Award from Friends of the Bancroft Library, a Cultural Freedom Award from the Lannan Foundation, and a Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. He serves on the boards of two organizations he helped found, Bay Nature Institute and Alliance for California Traditional Artists.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real find, January 10, 1999

By 

Judith Markoff Hansen ([e-mail]) (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area (Paperback)

A truly beautifully written book about the Native American people who populated the Bay Area, from Monterey to San Francisco. The descriptions of the land they inhabited as recently as 200 years ago makes wonderful reading aloud, and the Ohlone customs and beliefs will fascinate anyone living in the Bay Area. I rather fell upon this book at the SFPL, and can't believe my good fortune that it is available. As a high school librarian in SF, this can be well used by upper elementary through high school students wanting to know about the people and the place that existed long before SF was a settlement,when the area supported some of the densest populations of flora and fauna in America. The illustrations (b&w) will be much used as the basis for a mural on our area's history. They are clear and capture, in their intricacy, so many details that kids will relate to.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The way it was, before the Spaniards came, November 18, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area (Paperback)

This book is a reissue of a wonderful, illuminating book that's destined to remain in print as long as there is a California. Painstakingly researched, The Ohlone Way is an engrossingly readable study of the way the Native Americans of the Bay Area lived in peace, plenty, and harmony for centuries before the Spanish missionaries came in and annihilated an ancient way of life in the space of two generations. There was plenty of food (acorns from the oaks, birds, small game, fish, and shellfish), the tulle reeds furnished material for clothing, boats, and shelter, there was no cause for violence, and the weather was mild. Now and then I suppose an earthquake came along and knocked down a few tulle huts, but they rebuilt them the next day.
Drive to the top of the hills above Berkeley on a clear day, look west toward the bay, San Francisco and Marin counties, and imagine no cities, just a land of plenty inhabited by many small widely-separated but inter-related tribes, little wisps of their fires rising skyward here and there...
Then put back the freeways and bridges and houses and cars and people - and think about what we've done. Then go out and buy another book, Ishi in Two Worlds for the story of what became of the last of these people.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Descriptive presentations of the Ohlone way of life, June 17, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area (Paperback)

A classic work selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the top 100 western nonfiction books of the twentieth century, The Ohlone Way: Indian Life In The San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area by Malcolm Margolin has endured the test of time as being keenly insightful and informative today as it was twenty-five years ago when it was first published. Offering descriptive presentations of the Ohlone way of life from rituals of childhood and marriage to daily life to spiritual practices, this 25th Anniversary Edition of The Ohlone Way is a very highly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Native American Studies collections.