Handbook of North American Indians Plains (Handbook of North American Indians Series, Volume 13)

Rating:
Summary: Essential reading
Review: After a long wait volume 13 of the Handbook of North American Indian series has been published. This book will become the new standard reference work on the area. It is a massive book coming in 2 parts. Part 1 covers the climate and natural resources, archaeology of the Plains, languages, history of anthropological research and chapters on the village tribes and the nomadic tribes on the northern plains. Part 2 continues with chapters on the remaining nomad tribes as well as on music, arts, the sun dance and other more general chapters.

There is a wealth of information here for anyone interested in the Plains Indians and a 200 page bibliography for those who which to delve even deeper into the subject. In general I loved this book, one or two chapters I found a little disappointing - not being up to the high standards of the rest of the book. My main complaint is that for a book so long in production and with a high price it is full of little mistakes - spelling mistakes, wrong captions to photographs, mistakes in authors names, even tables badly formatted. I was left with the impression of a book rushed into production.

Despite this gripe this is a marvellous book and essential reading

Rating:
Summary: A caveat
Review: This encyclopedic, 2 part volume was first planned in 1971 and was much anticipated for more than two decades. Despite revisions, by the time of publication some of the material was out of date. This is especially true of some of the sections on archaeology that were authored during the 1970s by now-deceased senior scholars. While this is a disappointment for serious students of the Plains, the volumes contain a wealth of useful information and citations and have become the standard reference.