A beautifully produced and illustrated (bandw) reference that offers complete descriptions and cultural contexts of the dress and ornamentation of the North American Indian tribes. The volume is divided into ten cultural regions, with each chapter giving an overview of the regional clothing. Individual tribes of the area follow in alphabetical order. Tribal information includes men's basic dress, women's basic dress, footwear, outer wear, hair styles, headgear, accessories, jewelry, armor, special costumes, garment decoration, face and body embellishment, transitional dress after European contact, and bibliographic references. Appendices include a description of clothing arts and a glossary. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Massawomeck are but one of several hinterland Indian groups which having made a brief, frequently violent, appearance during the 17th century, disappear. Eyewitness & contemporary accounts of the Massawomeck, which are confined to the period 1607-1634, are closely associated with the founding of the English Jamestown & Maryland colonies in tidewater Virginia. Unfortunately, references to the Massawomeck are brief & frequently apart from the mainstream of events. Yet a sizable body of antiquarian & scholarly literature regarding the Massawomeck was generated, largely in the 19th century, which often classified them as one or another of the Iroquois tribes. This vol. attempts to expand upon what is known of the Massawomeck in the hope that it will be possible to enhance our understanding of trade between the mid-Atlantic Indians in the Chesapeake Bay latitudes & the Ontario Iroquois in the 16th century & the first three decades of the 17th century.

Among the aspects of Powhatan life that Helen Rountree describes in vivid detail are hunting and agriculture, territorial claims, warfare and treatment of prisoners, physical appearance and dress, construction of houses and towns, education of youths, initiation rites, family and social structure and customs, the nature of rulers, medicine, religion, and even village games, music, and dance. Rountree’s is the first book-length treatment of this fascinating culture, which included one of the most complex political organizations in native North American and which figured prominently in early American history.