Every significant aspect of the everyday life of the American Indian before the arrival of the white man is included in this superb pictorial history. Here, presented in lively text and more than 245 accurate drawings, are the tools, weapons, household utensils, clothing, and shelters of every major tribe or group. Here, too, are the ways of living, the religious ceremonies, and tribal customs that gave Indian life on this continent its amazing variety.
We see the birch-bark canoes of the Chippewa and the longhouses of the Iroquios, both woodland hunting tribes. We are introduced to the "cabin courts" and chungke yards of the southern farmers, Natchez royalty, the whaling harpoons of the Nootka, Mandan earth lodges, and the war games of the plainsmen. And if you want to know how a Hopi weaver worked at his loom, how eagles were snared, how a plains tepee was erected, or the meaning of trail signs used by woodland hunters, you will find the answers here.
Mr. Tunis' skill at re-creating the meaningful details of a past way of life is well-known to readers of his earlier books, of which the most recent is Colonial Living. He is a master craftsman whose vigor, clarity, and painstaking attention to detail give authority and delight to everything he does. The result in Indians is a treasure house of a book to pore over again and again.
—from the dust jacket
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