cupiscent's review against another edition
4.0
This was--as I'm finding is often the case with this series--a concise, accessible and thorough introduction to a big topic. I knew nearly nothing about the native peoples of North America going in, so this was all thoroughly fascinating, giving me enough context to make sense of things, but also giving lots of fascinating detail and comparison. I never did find any real clarity over the authors' choice to use the titular term for the peoples under discussion, nor did they discuss alternatives, and I remain perplexed about that. But I particularly liked the book's final declaration: that the native peoples speak for themselves now. (So go listen.)
stephen_means_me's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up. The early chapters (about pre-1492 life) are better covered in the extremely good "1491" and the very last chapter mostly about art and literature seems more like ad copy, but the middle, about the deep and complicated dynamics between the various tribal nations and the growing United States (it's unfortunately a rather "lower 48" centric book, but I suppose you have to draw the line somewhere and it's still a lot of people to talk about), is very good as a Very Short Introduction.
martijn_grooten's review against another edition
I was hoping to read a book on North American Indians themselves, rather than have them defined by what was done to them. The introduction promised that, the book didn't deliver that at all (and also really only talks about the US). I am glad I also read Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Native American History of the United States, which covers the same subject, but in a more honest way.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
5.0
This is a really good introduction to the history of Native Americans in North America (primarly the US, but also Canada and Mexico). It is quite well done. It isn't so much of a cultural history - there are too many tribes for that - but a general history in terms of the area. There are brief general overviews, highlighting tribe types and power structures. I found the passages about language to be very interesting. I did not know, for instance, that Rosetta Stone is working with tribes to perseve language and to help with learning.
bridgett's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of information to take in but it’s a well-organized, high-level overview. I especially liked the sections at the end discussing tribal sovereignty and cultural sovereignty.
More...