Native Peoples of the Southwest (SOLD)

Not since Stephen Trimble's The People: Indians of the American Southwest (LJ 8/93) has there been such a comprehensive and sensitive introduction to the culture and history of the Native peoples of the southwestern United States. The author (Earth Is My Mother, Sky Is My Father; anthropology, Univ. of Arizona) was raised in a Navajo family and spent time with each tribal group featured, including the Pueblos, O'odham, Yaqui, Yuman, Navajo, Apache, and Southern Paiute. Her wide-ranging treatment of each group includes both first-person narratives revealing contemporary lifestyles and issues, such as reservation gambling and the repatriation of sacred objects, and more general background information on social, religious, linguistic, and economic traditions. The book is organized by cultural group, with each chapter accompanied by a good bibliography. Appropriate as a college textbook and useful for the general reader, this book is recommended for most collections.