1048 American Anthropologist [70, 19681

There has long been a need for a detailed geographical study of the districts of the old Northwest Frontier Province of West Pakistan. The author, in recognizing this need, not only covered the available literature but carried out a comprehensive field study for a period of nine months. His base was Peshawar, from where he drove his jeep to “practically every part of the Frontier.” The fieldwork involved important interviews with villagers, as well as the procurement of data from sample commu- nities, even including some from strictly tribal areas.

The result is a broad review of the region complete with some excellent photographs, maps, and charts. Not only are there physio- graphic and economic data but, here and there, bits of history and ethnology, with comments on local and central government practices.

The book is singularly unsatisfactory for pur- poses other than a general survey. Almost no- where in the text does the author demonstrate an awareness that other than economic or polit- ical factors can be significant in land use. One section, entitled “Social Structure and Econ- omy,” deals only with communications, crops, forests, exports and imports, etc. The old sto- ries of the Chinese bringing Mongol physical features and Alexander and his men bringing light skins are repeated with only minimal qual- ification.

The book, therefore, must be used with cau- tion. As such, it is a useful publication in its summation of the broad geographical features of the region. It does indicate how much needs to be done to obtain solid geographical under- standing of the Northwest Frontier. This book is a beginnins only.

Reference Encyclopedia of rhe American Indian. BERNARD KLEIN and DANIEL ICOURI, eds. New York: B. Klein and Company, [1967]. 536 pp., alphabetical bibliopaphy, subject bibliography, publisher index bibliog- raphy, Who’s Who. $15.00.

Reviewed by SAMUEL STANLEY Smithsonian Institution

This is a very bad book. It sins both in com- mission and omission. After reading it, one can only conclude that it was hastily published to secure a quick profit for those who financed it.

The sins of commission are mainly in the bibliography, itself compiled on the basis of some mysterious criteria that the editors have preferred to keep to themselves. Here you will find such works on the North American Indians as Sons of the Shnking Earth, Handbook of Middle Americnn Indians, Door of Perception, and that great American Indian clansic Behind Miid Walls!!!!

The sins of omission are much more griev- ous, and a review of the book section by sec- tion reveals that something important is omitted from almost every section. The section on “Federal, State, and Regional Agencies” is sim- ply a verbatim listing of the various persons and branches of the B.I.A. There is no listing of Public Health Service hospitals and clinics or the many successful O.E.O. projects that have been so important to Indian communities in re- cent times. The “Museum” section neglects- among others-the Los Angeles County Museum. Important omissions in the “Library” section include the Bancroft and Huntington in California and the Peabody in Massachusetts. The section on “Associations” leaves out the In- dian Youth Council and the Old Cherokee Community Organization-to say nothing of the Native American Church of North Amer- ica.

In looking through the section on “Monu- ments and Parks,” you will never discover that there is an excellent Totem Pole park in Sitka right on the site where the Tlingit fought the Russians in 1804. In the “Reservation, Commu- nity, etc.,” section, we may legitimately ask what ever became of the Menomoni? We know they were terminated, but were they also exter- minated? The list of tribal councils includes nothing from Alaska, but surely Alaska natives are politically organized, as any Alaska politi- cian or Bureau official will tell you.

Since well over 50 percent of Indian children attend public and private non-B.I.A. schools, the section on “Schools” is totally inadequate. The section on “Indian-Related Course Offer- ings” must surely have been written in jest-for example, only the Chic0 State College offers such courses in California! Arts and crafts shops from various Alaska and Wisconsin cities have been omitted. The films pioneered at Berkeley by the late Sam Barrett and the Ways of Mankind records made under W. Gold- Schmidt’s direction are not in the section on “Visual Aids.”

Government publications pertaining to most Congressional studies of Indian Affairs and those dealing with Indian health are not listed in the section “Government Publications.” An- thropologists will be amused to learn that nei- ther the A A nor the SWJA are listed under “Newspapers, Magazines, and Periodicals”; nei- ther, for that matter, is the publication Zndian Voices included. The bibliography section is poorly organized and quite inadequate. It is ac- tually impossible to understand the criteria used to compile the “Who’s Who”-it, too, is insufficient and omits many Indians, as well as many persons with knowledge about them.

In summary, Reference Encyclopedia of the

Book Reviews 1049

American Indian is a very shoddy book and of no use to anthropologists nor to most other po- tential users. It is a shame that many libraries will automatically and routinely purchase this book when their money could be spent more effectively. Similarly, many students will seek out this volume because of the promise that its title holds; their disappointment is certain. If

anything, the appearance of this book now con- firms that there is a real demand for an encyclopedic compilation about American In- dians. Perhaps the forthcoming new Handbook of North American Indians, now in the final planning stages but far from written, will ap- pear before more of these “reference encyclope- dias” are produced.