To Harvest, To Hunt
Judith L. Li
To Harvest, To Hunt reveals how diverse peoples have valued and used natural resources throughout the history of the American West. Drawing on family letters, oral traditions, historical records, and personal experience, the book's contributors offer readers new perspectives on the land they live on, the harvests they consume, and the natural resources they manage.
Editor Judy Li weaves a tapestry of cultures and voices – from Pueblo tribes in the Southwest and Chinese fishermen in California to Mexican braceros in Oregon and Basque sheepherders in Idaho – as she details the region's historical dependence on the land and sea. Otter, walrus, abalone, grasslands, timber, and water are some of the vital resources discussed by writers, anthropologists, historians, and biologists in stories that tell how cultures struggle to adapt in changing environments.
Spanning the last 200 years, To Harvest, To Hunt represents Native Americans, Native Alaskans, and Mexican, European, and Asian immigrants as varied in their perspectives as the landscapes the book describes. Readers will come to appreciate the region's once-abundant resources and find this book an illuminating overview of the dynamic between people and the land.
Contributors: John Bieter, Dolly Garza, Erlinda Gonzales-Berry, Steven W. Hackel, David Hatch, Deanna Kingston, Jim LeMonds, Irene Martin, David Mas Masumoto, Margaret Mathewson, John Nichols, Patti Sakurai, and Charles Wilkinson.
About the author
Judith L. Li, retired Associate Professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University, is a stream ecologist who studies aquatic bugs and riparian food webs.She is the editor of To Harvest ,To Huntand coeditor of Wading for Bugs. She enjoys sharing science with young students and contributing to citizen science programs.
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