In a convenient alphabetical format, this book describes the histories and cultures of the Pacific Northwest tribes, of which there are more than 150, belonging to 15 different language groups, which have inhabited the Pacific Coast, the semi-arid Columbia Plateau, and the arid Great Basin. Brief characterisations of the tribes provide information about tribal language, alternative names, house styles, diet, populations at certain dates, contacts with white explorers and traders, treaties, claims against the government of the United States, leading personalities and significant migrations and settlements. The section of the book which deals with the pronunciation of Pacific Northwest tribal names is supplied by M. Dale Kinkade.
Over the centuries the Indians of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana have adapted their lifeways to their region’s radically different environments-an evolution that in some tribes continues to this day, as they conform to the demands of contemporary American society.