Ecological Indian: Myth And History

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W. W. Norton & Company, 1999 - History - 318 pages
"A good story and first-rate social science."—New York Times Book Review

The idea of the Native American living in perfect harmony with nature is one of the most cherished contemporary myths. But how truthful is this larger-than-life image? According to anthropologist Shepard Krech, the first humans in North America demonstrated all of the intelligence, self-interest, flexibility, and ability to make mistakes of human beings anywhere. As Nicholas Lemann put it in The New Yorker, "Krech is more than just a conventional-wisdom overturner; he has a serious larger point to make. . . . Concepts like ecology, waste, preservation, and even the natural (as distinct from human) world are entirely anachronistic when applied to Indians in the days before the European settlement of North America." "Offers a more complex portrait of Native American peoples, one that rejects mythologies, even those that both European and Native Americans might wish to embrace."—Washington Post

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Contents

Preface
9
Introduction
15
Pleistocene Extinctions
29
The Hohokam
45
Eden
73
Fire
101
Buffalo
123
Deer
151
Beaver
173
Epilogue
211
Endnotes
231
Index
309
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About the author (1999)

Shepard Krech III is a professor of anthropology at Brown University. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and in Maine. Shepard Krech III is a professor of anthropology at Brown University. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and in Maine.

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