Californian Indian Nights - Paperback

by Edward W. Gifford (Compiled by), Gwendoline Harris Block (Compiled by), Albert L. Hurtado (Introduction by)

"The rereading of these folklore selections in this attractively printed volume underscores again the uniqueness of California mythology. . . . The tales that make up the mythology there are not the worn stand-bys of the world; these tales from the Pacific coast have a freshness of invention that one discovers all too seldom in collections of folklore. They are surprisingly indigenous."--Ruth Benedict, American Anthropologist. "The volume is organized in such a way that it will be useful to students of literature as well as to students of anthropology, but the authors have not sacrificed accuracy and the critical use of their material in order to produce any kind of spurious picturesqueness. The volume is well gotten up and attractively illustrated."--Margaret Mead, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. "This is a most laudable attempt to make available to a general laity a representative collection of Californian Indian myths and tales."--Truman Michelson, American Historical Review. The compilers, Edward W. Gifford and Gwendoline Harris Block, were both associated with the University of California, Berkeley, Gifford as a professor of anthropology and director of the Museum of Anthropology and Block as an editor in the Department of Anthropology. Albert L. Hurtado, who provided an introduction for this edition, is an associate professor of history at Arizona State University and the author of Indian Survival on the California Borderland Frontier, 1819-60 (1988), winner of the Ray A. Billington Prize for American frontier history.

Back Jacket

During the first decades of the twentieth century the University of California became renowned for its department of anthropology. Although scholars contributed to many fields of anthropological science, the department was best known for studies of California Indians. While Alfred Kroeber guided these developments, a host of colleagues and students joined him to make California Indians the most thoroughly studied native people in North America.

Author Biography

The compilers, Edward W. Gifford and Gwendoline Harris Block, were both associated with the University of California, Berkeley, Gifford as a professor of anthropology and director of the Museum of Anthropology and Block as an editor in the Department of Anthropology.

Albert L. Hurtado, who provided an introduction for this edition, is an associate professor of history at Arizona State University and the author of Indian Survival on the California Borderland Frontier, 1819-60 (1988), winner of the Ray A. Billington Prize for American frontier history.