Indians, Animals, and the Fur Trade: A Critique of Keepers of the Game

by Shepard Krech III

Exploring the motivations of Indians involved in the fur trade, the contributors to this volume challenge the spiritualist interpretation set forth by Calvin Martin in Keepers of the Game , which dismisses the lure of European goods--the power and leisure that firearms and other tools afforded the Indians--and instead attributes the Indians' willingness to overkill wildlife to the epidemics that decimated their ranks, that not only shattered their religious bonds with game but also unleashed a furious revenge against the animals.

Genres: History

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Cordellya Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a collection of critical reviews on Calvin Martin's book, Keepers of the Game. They effectively take apart Martin's argument and demonstrate that it does not actually apply to all tribes of indigenous people as he suggested.