Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13: Plains Hardcover - 2001

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Edited by DeMallie, director of the American Indian Studies Research Institute at Indiana University, this latest addition to the distinguished "Handbook of North American Indians" series documents approximately 10,000 years of Native American habitation in a geographically defined region that extends from the Upper Mississippi River valley to the Rocky Mountains and from the Saskatchewan River valley in present-day Canada to the Rio Grande. It is a region largely comprising grasslands that served into the late 19th century as the grazing area for the large herds of buffalo that provided basic sustenance for Native American groups such as the Blackfoot, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Comanche. Divided into 67 chapters over two volumes, this work features the most current research available from some of the foremost experts in their respective fields. Thirty-five of the chapters focus on specific native groups, while the remaining 32 explore such varied topics as "Hunting and Gathering Traditions," "The Languages of the Plains," and "Intertribal Religious Movements." More than 30 years in the making, this scholarly work is simply the most authoritative and comprehensive title available on the topic and should be acquired by all public and academic libraries. Academic libraries should also strongly consider purchasing DeMallie's equally outstanding Documents of American Indian Diplomacy: Treaties, Agreements, and Conventions, 1775-1979 (Univ. of Oklahoma, 1999), which he coedited with Vine Deloria Jr. (From Library Journal; John Burch, Campbellsville Univ., KY; Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.)