Customer Reviews

Yuman Tribes of the Gila River

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Makes a fun companion to Kroeber's Handbook Handbook of the Indians of California, with 419 Illustrations and 40 Maps (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 78) of the California Indians. The fact is, referring to Native American groups based on the state lines drawn by the USA is pretty pointless. The tribes of the south west had their differences, but the similarities seem more important to me. Here, Spier (writing in the 30's) focuses in on the tribes of the Gila River. These tribes are notable for a couple reasons- first, they weren't wiped off the face of the earth like the tribes who lived in the gold rush area of California. Second, they weren't wiped off the face of the earth like the tribes who lived in the areas controlled by the Spanish missions. So what you've got left is a pretty good take on western indian culture that was on the more "primitive" end of the spectrum (spectrum of Native tribes, not in comparison to white people.)

This book is almost entirely descriptive. The artist makes few comparisons, even to other tribes.