Indians in Overalls

Indians in Overalls

Achomawi Indians

The best-known work by the eccentric anthropologist Jaime deAngulo, Indians in Overalls is a fascinating account of his first linguistic field trip - in 1921 - to the Achumawi tribe of northeastern California. The Pit River people had lived in the barren high country for thousands of years and, despite the harsh climate and difficult living conditions, they had developed an extraordinarily complex language and a rich mythology. As he traveled with the tribe and learned the spoken language, he observed gambling games and shamanistic practices, and he collected some of the marvelous stories told around the fire in the winter lodges. Of all the people he worked with, he felt closest to the Achumawi, among whom he discovered "the spirit of wonder, the recognition of life as power ...".

By Jaime de Angulo ; with an afterword by Gui de Angulo

City Lights Books

1990

The Book Club of California Library

Photo credit: Elizabeth Newsom