The Ecological Indian: Myth and History

In this book, Krech sets out to contradict popular perceptions of Native Americans as perfect beings living in harmony with their environments. This doesn't sound like a very nice thing to do at first, but the author clearly states that he feels such images are not only inaccurate generalizations based on biased, outdated European stereotypes, but are dehumanizing in their suggestion that native people are "natural" animals rather than "cultural" humans. He goes on to present a number of case studies showing situations in which Native Americans were indeed cultural humans not living in perfect ecological balance with their surroundings. His treatment of the archaeological evidence is pretty thorough and unbiased. His historical case studies, while relying a bit heavily on potentially biased historic records by White settlers, remain fairly convincing examples of situations in which Native Americans were not perfect conservationists. Unfortunately, after this array of case studies it can be easy to forget that Krech's stated reasons for examining them were to present Native Americans as active human beings rather than passive stereotypes. Instead, readers can end up with a negative feeling about Native American land use practices in general or about Krech in particular, as the reviews below point out. In spite of these flaws, however, the book does raise interesting questions about how perceptions of Native Americans are constructed (both by native people themselves and by others) and about how we should approach environmental issues (including our definition of a "natural" environment) we grapple with today. His writing is clear and issues are presented in a fairly understandable way for a general audience, not just dusty academic types. Although you may not agree with all of the book's conclusions, the issues it raises make it very worthwhle reading material for anyone interested in environmental impact and Native Americans in the past and today.

Earlier customer reviews have tended to comment on bias. Most of the book is actually very fair, particularly the first few chapters; the treatment of Paul Martin's "Pleistocene overkill" hypothesis is exemplary. But the last couple of chapters are indeed rather biased, and read perhaps more "anti-Indian" than Dr. Krech intended. For example, Dr. Krech makes it sound as if the buffalo jump was a common, regular thing--the Indians drove a few million buffalo over a cliff every time they wanted a light lunch. Actually, archaeology and common sense both suggest that a big jump episode was rare. Try herding buffalo on foot and you'll understand. And Krech takes an extreme position in re the Indians' tendency to kill beaver; most authorities agree that beaver were more or less conserved until the white trappers got into the act. Certainly, there were lots of beaver, and not just in eastern Canada (the area he considers). Over a million beaver were trapped out of the southwestern US in the 1830s and 1840s, in spite of very dense Indian settlement then and earlier. The first 5 or 6 chapters would provoke little reasonable disagreement, but the last 2 or 3 would provoke (or are provoking) increasingly acrimonious debate among the learned. Suffice it to say that if you got the message that the Native Americans were not always models of selflessness, but were ordinary (if sensible) human beings, you're right, and this is probably what Dr. Krech intended. If you got the message that the Native Americans were bloodthirsty savages who killed wantonly, you're wrong. I hope and trust Dr. Krech did not mean that, but he does quote-at length and with apparent favor--a lot of racist 19th-century writers who did mean that.

Very insightful read about Native Americans and their relationship with their environment.

I read this book as background for a paper for a college class. Turns out, it was not on topic for my paper, but it was interesting.

When faced with claims about how great things were in North America before Europeans appeared on the scene, this book supplies some valuable material to refute that claim.If one finds themselves sucked into such debates, this is a handy book to have around.

Cultural myths are good, I am Native american and I am constantly amused by the monolithic beliefs that many have concerning Native Maericna ecological practices. Like all communities, it is not that simple; beliefs are varied; economics clash with ecological values. This is a well presented treatise and I found it balanced and useful.

Crucial for teachers or anyone who wants to know/teaches about native Americans ! Read in tandem with Guns, Germs and Steel

A decent read despite it being a text book, this is an informative and educational volume that shows what the people of today are only now rediscovering in many areas.

paper not so good, very interesting contents

I do not agree with the premise however I am reading it. He also has an old idea that there is the good savage and the bad one, in both cases they are savages which is prejudicial. He is in my opinion trying to make a case that First Nations destroyed the earth and animals. I do not agree with that premise or assumption every human has had struggle. It is well written and sounds academic however it propagates old anthropological myths from armchair anthropologists.