moving to outside.ofa.dog reviewed Native Seattle by Coll Thrush (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)
Review of 'Native Seattle' on 'GoodReads'
5 stars
A beautiful book that powerfully illustrates its key claim: that the Native history of Seattle may be dramatically changed and challenged, but it's neither past nor complete. A few things I particularly appreciated:
The vivid description of the multi-ethnic Seattle of the early pioneer days. It made me wish that hadn't been wiped out, and wonder what kind of hybrid culture could have emerged in a Seattle or a Vancouver that had allowed it to keep flourishing.
A clear sense of how the contemporary Tribes of the region relate to ancestral and language groups.
A much clearer portrayal than I've seen elsewhere of who "Chief" Seattle really was and why he commanded so much respect and attention.
Many mentions of individuals and families who weren't necessarily individually notable. A lot of them are very brief sketches, but they still mean much more than just saying "we know there were Shilsholes …
A beautiful book that powerfully illustrates its key claim: that the Native history of Seattle may be dramatically changed and challenged, but it's neither past nor complete. A few things I particularly appreciated:
The vivid description of the multi-ethnic Seattle of the early pioneer days. It made me wish that hadn't been wiped out, and wonder what kind of hybrid culture could have emerged in a Seattle or a Vancouver that had allowed it to keep flourishing.
A clear sense of how the contemporary Tribes of the region relate to ancestral and language groups.
A much clearer portrayal than I've seen elsewhere of who "Chief" Seattle really was and why he commanded so much respect and attention.
Many mentions of individuals and families who weren't necessarily individually notable. A lot of them are very brief sketches, but they still mean much more than just saying "we know there were Shilsholes and Muckleshoots working at this mill", etc.
The powerful sense of continuity of Native Seattle even among all the hardship and forced change.
The atlas section at the end that brings the immediate pre-Settler period to life though its list of place names and explanations of their significance.
That atlas was what I thought the whole book would be, but it's actually much more interesting in the context of all the stories that precede it.