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Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South (Environmental History and the American South)
Shepard Krech
€ 53.01
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Description for Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South (Environmental History and the American South)
Hardcover. Discusses the omnipresence of birds in Native American life. This book examines the complex and changeable influences of birds on the Native American world view. Series: Wormsloe Foundation Publication. Num Pages: 264 pages, 149 colour & 32 b&w illustrations, 2 maps. BIC Classification: 1KBBS; HBJK; JFSL9; JHMC; WNCB. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 279 x 216 x 28. Weight in Grams: 1461.
Before the massive environmental change wrought by the European colonization of the South, hundreds of species of birds filled the region's flyways in immeasurable numbers. Before disease, war, and displacement altered the South's earliest human landscape, Native Americans hunted and ate birds and made tools and weapons from their beaks, bones, and talons. More significant to Shepard Krech III, Indians adorned themselves with feathers, invoked avian powers in ceremonies and dances, and incorporated bird imagery on pottery, carvings, and jewelry.
Krech, a renowned authority on Native American interactions with nature, reveals as never before the omnipresence of birds in ... Read more
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2009
Publisher
University of Georgia Press
Condition
New
Series
Wormsloe Foundation Publication Series
Number of Pages
264
Place of Publication
Georgia, United States
ISBN
9780820328157
SKU
V9780820328157
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-95
About Shepard Krech
SHEPARD KRECH III is a professor of anthropology and director of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University. He is a past president of the American Society for Ethnohistory and has been a fellow and trustee of the National Humanities Center. His many books include The Ecological Indian and Encyclopedia of World Environmental History.
Reviews for Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South (Environmental History and the American South)
Shepard Krech's insightful research into historical sources and his deep understanding of birds combine to entrance the reader with scientific insights, Native knowledge, and marvelous descriptions of the American South. This book brings a fresh and fascinating approach to environmental and ornithological history and will be of great interest to historians, indigenous peoples, and birders alike.
author of American ... Read more
What a wonderful surprise this book is! With fabulous illustrations and insightful text, Spirits of the Air explores the deep connections between Native Americans of the South and the rich bird life that was so much a part of their environment and lives. For birders, the book provides a thought-provoking opportunity to move beyond identification and ponder our deeper and more universal relationship to these beautiful creatures that we so love and seek out.
authors of Stokes Field Guide to Birds
This is a landmark work in at least two disciplines. With scholarship of the highest order, Shepard Krech delves into a curiously neglected topic and serves up a rich slice of cultural history, presented in a clear and engaging style. If you're at all interested in birds, Native Americans, or cultural connections to nature, you owe it to yourself to read this remarkable book.
author of the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America
Shepard Krech has provided us with a superbly researched and splendidly illustrated tour of Southeastern Indian ethno-ornithology. His bird's-eye taxonomic vision is sharpened by a lifetime of bird watching and a distinguished career as an ecological ethnohistorian. This is no rapid trip on an Audubon autobahn; rather Krech's route is a twisting and turning one with many enlightening detours that restore an appreciation of the past and continuing complex significance of birds in the consciousness of Southeast native peoples.
editor of Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 14, Southeast
[A] Kindle-defying handful, a heavy and handsome volume that sits solidly on the lap, a delight as much for the eye as for the mind . . . [A] book for the academic office or home library, both a ready reference for scholarly inquiry and a relaxing source of visual pleasure. [A]n elegant case for the critical roles birds played in Native American life. The American South has been blessed with a flurry of birds of every kind. In Spirits of the Air Shepard Krech exhaustively surveys for the first time the world of Southern Indians and their birds, and he does so from a variety of perspectives. Anthropologists, environmental historians, and birders will treasure this book, as will lay readers who will admire its beautiful design and charming illustrations.
author of The Southeastern Indians
Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South is a momentous work. It is the first study of birds in a regional cultural zone of native America . . . Rarely does one find a book that combines such visual pleasure with such superb intellectual endeavor. Show Less
author of American ... Read more
What a wonderful surprise this book is! With fabulous illustrations and insightful text, Spirits of the Air explores the deep connections between Native Americans of the South and the rich bird life that was so much a part of their environment and lives. For birders, the book provides a thought-provoking opportunity to move beyond identification and ponder our deeper and more universal relationship to these beautiful creatures that we so love and seek out.
authors of Stokes Field Guide to Birds
This is a landmark work in at least two disciplines. With scholarship of the highest order, Shepard Krech delves into a curiously neglected topic and serves up a rich slice of cultural history, presented in a clear and engaging style. If you're at all interested in birds, Native Americans, or cultural connections to nature, you owe it to yourself to read this remarkable book.
author of the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America
Shepard Krech has provided us with a superbly researched and splendidly illustrated tour of Southeastern Indian ethno-ornithology. His bird's-eye taxonomic vision is sharpened by a lifetime of bird watching and a distinguished career as an ecological ethnohistorian. This is no rapid trip on an Audubon autobahn; rather Krech's route is a twisting and turning one with many enlightening detours that restore an appreciation of the past and continuing complex significance of birds in the consciousness of Southeast native peoples.
editor of Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 14, Southeast
[A] Kindle-defying handful, a heavy and handsome volume that sits solidly on the lap, a delight as much for the eye as for the mind . . . [A] book for the academic office or home library, both a ready reference for scholarly inquiry and a relaxing source of visual pleasure. [A]n elegant case for the critical roles birds played in Native American life. The American South has been blessed with a flurry of birds of every kind. In Spirits of the Air Shepard Krech exhaustively surveys for the first time the world of Southern Indians and their birds, and he does so from a variety of perspectives. Anthropologists, environmental historians, and birders will treasure this book, as will lay readers who will admire its beautiful design and charming illustrations.
author of The Southeastern Indians
Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South is a momentous work. It is the first study of birds in a regional cultural zone of native America . . . Rarely does one find a book that combines such visual pleasure with such superb intellectual endeavor. Show Less