Provides the reader with an accurate mental picture of Wintun tribal culture as it existed in prewhite times and during gold rush days.

On the cutting edge of world-systems theory comes The Wintu and Their Neighbors, the first case study to compare and contrast systematically an indigenous Native American society with the modern world at large. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines sociology, anthropology, political science, geography, and history, Christopher Chase-Dunn and Kelly M. Mann have scoured the archaeological record of the Wintu, an aboriginal people without agriculture, metallurgy, or class structure who lived in the wooded valleys and hills of northern California. By studying the household composition, kinship, and trade relations of the Wintu, they call into question some of the basic assumptions of prior sociological theory and analysis. Chase-Dunn and Mann argue that Immanuel Wallerstein's world-systems perspective, originally applied only to the study of modern capitalistic societies, can also be applied to the study of the social, economic, and political relationships in small stateless societies. They contend that, despite the fact that the Wintu appear on the surface to have been a household-based society, this indigenous group was in fact involved in a myriad of networks of interaction, which resulted in intermarriage and which extended for many miles around the region. These networks, which were not based on the economic dominance of one society over anotherÑa concept fundamental to Wallerstein's world-systems theoryÑled to the eventual expansion of the Wintu as a cultural group. Thus, despite the fact that the Wintu did not behave like a modern societyÑlacking wealth accumulation, class distinctions, and cultural dominanceÑChase-Dunn and Mann insist that the Wintu were involved in a world-system and argue, therefore, that the concept of the "minisystem" should be discarded. They urge other scholars to employ this comparative world-systems perspective in their research on stateless societies.

The story of a group of tribelets speaking several languages and dialects.

The Shasta Indians dwelled in relative peace with their neighbors for untold generations until the miners & settlers arrived & utterly disrupted their way of life. Under the shadow of sacred Mount Shasta, or Wyeka, the unique Shastan culture had flourished. Origins, community life, subsistence activities, ceremonies, marriage, birth & death are carefully explained.

Describes patterns of village life, and covers such subjects as Indian tools and artifacts, hunting techniques, and food.--From publisher description.