Native Peoples of the Northwest: A Traveler's Guide to Land, Art, and Culture

Native Peoples Of The Northwest is a beautiful guide to land, art and culture, just as titled. Enriched by color photos of beautiful artworks, and color coded foldout maps, it covers the Northwest. Organized by geographic region, it lists major sites, art sources and museums as well as suggested cultural tours and activities of Northwestern Native Americans. All information presented is written with the help of members of Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, a coalition of 54 tribes from Southeast Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho and Western Montana. In a foreword, the author team refers to themselves as "full bloods" (Jan Halliday is Scots-Irish and Gail Chehak is Klamath Indian) nicknamed Coyote and Raven. With all the cleverness and subtlety of both their namesakes, they have indeed put together a most useful guide book studded with breathtaking photos of art works. This book is well worth the price for the art photos alone! The Native Peoples Of The Northwest also contains history nuggets and suggestions in appendices on powwow etiquette, sacred sites and buying Native art. There is even a calendar of cultural and artistic events in the areas covered. In addition to suggestions and tips to buyers and collectors of Native American art, there are suggested reading resources with brief thumbnail sketches set in the margins. The wonderful thing about this book is it is a part of promoting, protecting and extending Native American art, culture, and history. An example is in the preface is the realization of the dream of coauthor Gail Chehak to establish a large Northwestern Indian Art Festival. Now in Portland there is an annual festival Memorial Day Weekend called Indian Art Northwest - in its third year. This is wonderful news for everyone for we are all enriched by this vast and colorful heritage. The authors endorse Indian-guided tours and Indian-owned museums because the point of view is so different from the non-Native perspective. For example, did you know the Lilijet Feast House in Vancouver is the only truly Native restaurant in the region? Decorated and presented in the traditional Longhouse style, the Native American owner presents entrees such as alder smoked salmon, prawns, venison, wild rice, steamed ferns and bannock bread. This is a beautiful book, much more than a guide book. It encourages you to sample a rich diversity of Native American heritage. It makes one long to explore the area. Perhaps a similar book on "Native Americans of the Southwest" is forthcoming? One can only hope. Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer