The ecological indian (Myth and history)
Editorial W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
Mainland Spain
- Publisher W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
- ISBN13 9780393321005
- ISBN10 0393321002
- Type Book
- Pages 318
- Published 2000
- Bookbinding Rustic
Sections
Anthropology. General ThemesThe ecological indian (Myth and history)
Editorial W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
Mainland Spain
Book Details
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...that rejects mythologies, even those that both European and Native Americans might wish to embrace. (Washington Post)
A good story and first-rate social science. (New York Times Book Review)