This Land Was Theirs: A Study of the North American Indian

by Wendell H. Oswalt

This Land Was A Study of Native North Americans, Ninth Edition, examines the traditional and contemporary lifeways of twelve North American Indian tribes. Ranging from the Netsilik hunters who straddle the Arctic Circle to the Natchez farmers of the lower Mississippi River area, the tribes represent each culture area and various levels of socioeconomic complexity among Native Americans. After introductory chapters devoted to pan-tribal issues, each chapter focuses on a specific group and culture area, providing students with a detailed portrait of the geographical and cultural adaptations of that region.

As he has done for previous editions, author Wendell H. Oswalt has visited virtually all of the extant groups discussed in the text in order to ensure an accurate record of the present-day situation.

Features of the Ninth Edition
*Each chapter on an extant tribal group now includes a table with a timeline summarizing the group's ethnohistory
*Includes an expanded section on the original peopling of the Americas
*Emphasizes the major issues band and tribal governments in North America face today
*Addresses the increasingly important diamond mining industry in Canada and the Subarctic
*Includes more than 150 illustrations and chapter-opening native poems or songs
*Offers expanded coverage of the Navajo, the transcontinental railroad's impact on Indian life, and contemporary issues encountered on reservations

Provides pedagogical aids including maps of each region discussed, a glossary, a pronunciation guide, and two a guide to artifacts and a list of additional resources for further study

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Anthropology, American History, Native American, School, Textbooks

617 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1966

Reviews

[Kallie]

The regional approach this book takes in order to detail (through a selected tribe of each region) how people survived their particular environment, makes a great deal of sense. We learn in detail the subsistence strategy each group employed, their kinship pattern and social organization, about how their shamans practiced, their origins myths and spiritual beliefs, their languages and how they are linguistically linked to other regions and even continents. Oswalt takes us through Arctic, Sub-Arctic, Pacific Northwest, Southern California, the Southwest, and the East Coast, choosing representative groups to discuss culture and survival from as far back as is known to the present. After studying this book, one has a much more comprehensive picture of Native North American life.

[Sarah Huntington]

This seemed to take me an absolute age to get through. My own fault, there was nothing dull about the book, I just had trouble concentrating. Anyhow, I've been looking for this book for ages, and finally, a cheap copy came up on Ebay, so I pounced. It was great and I learned a whole lot, which is what I wanted. Absolutely fascinating.

[Hanna]

It was a struggle to read at times (what college book isn't?), but it's worth all the attention. This is a must-read if you have only learned about American history in grade school where the First Thanksgiving and the Trail of Tears have the briefest mentions for Native Peoples. I went from total ignorance to beginning to understand the individual history of Native Peoples of North America. This book highlights their struggles in history as well as today.

[Kat]

A light study of different Native American cultures around the United States

[Noelle]

I read this for my Native American Studies class and although school books usually bore me to death this one was good. I learned alot and didn't get to board.

[Nancy S]

As textbook goes this was interesting and easy to read. Anyone wanting to know about this subject I would recommend this book.