Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast

by Wayne Suttles (Editor), William Sturtevant (Editor)

Provides background information on the native peoples of the Northwest Coastal environment, their languages, and early history. Also contains sections mythology, art, and the Indian Shaker Church.

Genres: History, Anthropology

796 pages, Hardcover

First published August 20, 1990

Reviews

[Ron Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great edited volume. I wish I had time to read it all but "ars longa, vita brevis". It looks like you can buy used copies of this for $75-80, which is worth it in my opinion if this is a strong interest of yours. Since my family background is Tsimshian (from Hartley Bay), I read mainly material directly pertinent to that topic, but the whole book is good, with well-selected authors. These are the chapters I had the chance to read before I took it back:

Wayne Suttles. Introduction. (Very good)
Wayne Suttles. Environment. (Very good)
Douglas Cole & David Darling. History of the Early Period. (Good)
Robert T. Boyd. Demographic History, 1774-1874. (Good)
J.E. Michael Kew. History of Coastal British Columbia Since 1846. (Good)
Knut Fladmark et al. Prehistory of the Northern Coast of British Columbia. (Fairly good)
Marjorie M. Halpin & Margaret Seguin. Tsimshian Peoples: Southern Tsimshian, Coast Tsimshian, Nishga, and Gitksan. (Very good)
Gordon B. Inglis et al. Tsimshian of British Columbia Since 1900. (Good)
John A. Dunn & Arnold Booth. Tsimshian of Metlakatla, Alaska. (Alright)
Dell Hymes. Mythology. (Okay, not that great)
Bill Holm. Art. (Extremely good!)