The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southwest

Columbia Guides to American Indian History and Culture

by Trudy Griffin-Pierce

A major work on the history and culture of Southwest Indians, "The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southwest" tells a remarkable story of cultural continuity in the face of migration, displacement, violence, and loss. The Native peoples of the American Southwest are a unique group, for while the arrival of Europeans forced many Native Americans to leave their land behind, those who lived in the Southwest held their ground. Many still reside in their ancestral homes, and their oral histories, social practices, and material artifacts provide revelatory insight into the history of the region and the country as a whole.

Trudy Griffin-Pierce incorporates her lifelong passion for the people of the Southwest, especially the Navajo, into an absorbing narrative of pre- and postcontact Native experiences. She finds that, even though the policies of the U.S. government were meant to promote assimilation, Native peoples formed their own response to outside pressures, choosing to adapt rather than submit to external change. Griffin-Pierce provides a chronology of instances that have shaped present-day conditions in the region, as well as an extensive glossary of significant people, places, and events. Setting a precedent for ethical scholarship, she describes different methods for researching the Southwest and cites sources for further archaeological and comparative study. Completing the volume is a selection of key primary documents, literary works, films, Internet resources, and contact information for each Native community, enabling a more thorough investigation into specific tribes and nations.

The Columbia Guides to American Indian History and Culture also include:

The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great PlainsLoretta Fowler

The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the NortheastKathleen J. Bragdon

The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the SoutheastTheda Perdue and Michael D. Green

Genres: History

284 pages, Hardcover

First published May 30, 2009

Reviews

[Todd Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having lived in the southwest for more than a quarter century I was curious to learn more about the native peoples who inhabited the region prior to it being settled by Europeans. With that in mind I decided to read The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southwest, by medical anthropologist Trudy Griffin-Pierce. Unfortunately, it was a poor choice.

It's clear that a lot of research went into compiling the information in the book. With this completed, however, it seems as if Griffin-Pierce simply placed her notes in a pile and called the job done. The text reads as if no thought whatsoever was put into the presentation of this information. As a result, the text skips around geographically, temporally, culturally and historically between the various tribes, regions and events. The book lacks any connecting thread to pull the various bits of information into something resembling a cohesive narrative.

This becomes ever more pronounced as the book goes on until it gives up all pretext at telling a story to devolve into a bullet pointed list of dates and events. The book reminds me of every bad history class during my junior high and high school years. As a result I felt like I got very little from the text.

[Donna Winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Griffin-Pierce has compiled an amazingly detailed history of the Southwest's pre-contact and post-contact indigenous peoples and explained how these groups were studied. She spells out abuses by government policies and remedies. This is not a pleasure read. It is more like a textbook, but a good one.

[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my current project for Columbia.