The First Americans: The Story of Where They Came From and Who They Became

by Anthony Aveni

Other authorsS. D. Nelson (Illustrator)
Hardcover, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

970.01

Publication

Scholastic Nonfiction (2005), Edition: English Language, 128 pages

Description

Presents an illustrated history of the first North American civilizations including the Cahokia, Anasazi, Hopewell, and Moundbuilders, and describes their culture, religion, society through archaeological evidence.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member kharding
I chose this book because I have been looking for a good book about different Native American cultures. This book appealed to me because it is broken up into sections about different Native American tribes, with many pictures, diagrams and inserted information. It is also written in plain language
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to try and help the reader understand and relate to distant cultures.
While reading this book I began to ask myself, is it ok to cater to young readers so much as to ignore controversy in history, and to make up stories up individuals that could have potentially happened? After reading Witchunt by Aronson, I am now very critical of books that don't ask the reader to also put their historian hat on and understand that we don't know everything.
The other issue I had was that this book lends towards sensationalism, with plenty of exclamation marks and catchy lines.
However, aside from these drawbacks, the book has many of great supporting details, and pictures of artifacts which make the topic come to life. Further, the authors tone is in explaining the accomplishments of Native Americans, and debunks misconceptions held by colonizers of the time, and people today.
I am really interested in the sections where the author explains the archealogical process and finidings. This gives the reader context for understanding how this information has been discovered over time, and archeology is just plain fascinating.
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LibraryThing member LindseyB12
With Native American ancestory in my family, I am very interested in learning about them. This book introduces several tribes. It provides details of their customs, traditions, tools, lifestyles, etc. There are plenty of pictures which always makes the text come to life and the information more
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relatable. It also provides information as to how we've come to know about these tribes which is an imporant topic to discuss. It is always important for nonfiction to be supported by very reliable sources.
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Awards

Spur Award (Winner — Juvenile Nonfiction — 2006)

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

128 p.; 11.38 inches

ISBN

0439551447 / 9780439551441

Barcode

2160
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