Macmillan Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes

by Michael G. Johnson

This fully-updated and revised edition of the 1994 Native Tribes of North America is a superb reference on Native American peoples from the Canadian Arctic to the Rio Grande. Designed for students, researchers, and general readers alike, the Encyclopedia is illustrated throughout with contemporary and rare historical photographs, regional maps and dramatic illustrations.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, Reference, Anthropology

288 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Michael Johnson has researched and written about Native American history and culture for more than 35 years. He received The Denali Press Award (2000) from the American Library Association for the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes.

Reviews

[Jo-jean Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book with so much well-documented and well Illustrated information. Happy to learn more about tribes I knew and learn about others I never knew.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pretty good for what it is, basically a bunch of quick summaries of North America's indigenous cultures. I had just read this guy's book on the Iroquois and was a little annoyed at how little there was on pre-colonial life and this one is only slightly better in that regard. With a book focusing on just the Iroquois it at least kind of makes sense to focus on the later years since the tribes that formed the confederacy are thought to have done so after Europeans started showing up, and obviously there's a lot less info documented before then. With a book that has only a few paragraphs and maybe a couple pictures per tribe though life after European influence seems like the wrong focus to me. In both books there's also a lot of emphasis on things like the crafts they create for tourists and the casinos they run, so if like me you're more interested in the way people lived on this continent with just stone age technology you might be a little disappointed. I also think his population estimates are way off. When discussing pre-colonial populations he uses an estimate of 3 million people living in North America in the late 16th century, which might be true after the first wave of small pox and plunder, but he seemed to be implying that it was never higher than that. Most estimates I've heard were more like 10 or even 20 million (50-100 million in all the Americas). I do like that he doesn't overly romanticize the way some other writers on this subject do but some of these more "conservative" estimates I'm pretty sure are just outdated. Definitely worth flipping through though.

[Leonca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tribes are presented very briefly, with an emphasis on linguistic groups, styles of clothing/shelter design etc., and population statistics. There are many great photographic and artistic examples, with notes on which elements of dress are traditional and which show European influence. No information is included on Hawaii’s native cultures.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very concise, true, so the amount of information is limited. However, the color illustrations are beautifully rendered.