Most books dealing with North American Indigenous peoples are exhaustive in coverage. They provide in-depth discussion of various culture areas which, while valuable, sometimes means that the big picture context is lost. This book offers a corrective to that trend by providing a concise, thematic overview of the key issues facing Indigenous peoples in North America, from prehistory to the present. It integrates a culture area analysis within a thematic approach, covering archaeology, traditional lifeways, the colonial era, and contemporary Indigenous culture. Muckle also explores the history of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and anthropologists with rigor and honesty. The result is a remarkably comprehensive book that provides a strong grounding for understanding Indigenous cultures in North America.

Robert J. Muckle is Professor of Anthropology at Capilano University in North Vancouver, Canada. He has been teaching archaeology, biological anthropology, and Indigenous Peoples of North America courses for more than 20 years. He is the author of several publications, including Introducing Archaeology (2nd edition, 2014), Reading Archaeology (2007), and Indigenous Peoples of North America: A Concise Anthropological Overview (2012). He writes the monthly column "Archeology in North America" for the on-line Anthropology News and is active on matters pertaining to anthropology on Twitter (@bobmuckle).

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