Historians Damon Akins and William Bauer unveil a fascinating narrative about California Indians that breaks free from conventional boundaries of time and space. In this work, they argue that Indigenous people are central to the history and future of California as they continue to fight against the idea once held by colonial entities that abundant natural resources were meant to be exploited and “could not be Indigenous land” (p. 4). Akins and Bauer achieve their goal of correcting misconceptions about the history of Native California and of demonstrating that Indigenous peoples are still here despite the violence, slavery, genocide, and state policies perpetrated against them.
The authors rely largely on secondary sources interspersed with oral histories of Indigenous people. The book is evenly divided in its coverage of topics, from pre-Hispanic Native practices, stories, and uses of the environment through Native peoples' struggles during the Spanish, Mexican, and American periods;...
