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A review by jdintr
The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area by Michael Harney, Malcolm Margolin
5.0
This is a really fascinating look at the native peoples of the central California coast.
I liked the fact that Margolin keeps the focus on the natives and their way of life--chapters discuss food, living accommodations, myths & spiritual traditions, and war.
Only in the last chapter does Margolin address the mission system, through which utopian Franciscan missionaries coopted native ways and forced the people to live like Europeans, sending this thriving culture on a path towards extinction.
There is much that visitors to California can learn from Margolin's account. I read it to prepare my mind for a trip to Monterey and Salinas. When I'm there, I will be looking for tracks of ancient Americans and trying to imagine how this amazing coastline must have seemed through their eyes.
I liked the fact that Margolin keeps the focus on the natives and their way of life--chapters discuss food, living accommodations, myths & spiritual traditions, and war.
Only in the last chapter does Margolin address the mission system, through which utopian Franciscan missionaries coopted native ways and forced the people to live like Europeans, sending this thriving culture on a path towards extinction.
There is much that visitors to California can learn from Margolin's account. I read it to prepare my mind for a trip to Monterey and Salinas. When I'm there, I will be looking for tracks of ancient Americans and trying to imagine how this amazing coastline must have seemed through their eyes.