The Ecological Indian: Myth and History (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780393321005)

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

Author: Shepard Krech
ISBN-10: 0393321002
ISBN-13: 9780393321005
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English
Published: 09/17/2000
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.62lbs
Size: 8.36h x 5.52w x 0.86d

Review Citation(s):
New York Review of Books 11/29/2001 pg. 57