The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area

Fantastic book about the tribes of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. Being Bay Area born and bred, the Ohlone name has been familiar to me since I can remember. Learning about their cultures (many tribelets under one Ohlone umbrella) revealed a lot to me about the roots of San Francisco culture. Progressiveness, community, and appreciation are three of the foundational values that I believe we inherited, culturally, from these First Nation people who preceded all other people on this land. I have bought many copies to gift to friends and family. This book is a well-written and fascinating history of a still-vibrant culture. (Just visit the Ohlone Cafe in Berkeley to know more!)

I don't normally read books like this for pleasure, but this book was assigned to my cultural anthropology class by my professor whom I respect. The book offers a fairly comprehensive overview of what life may have been like for the Ohlone peoples before the time of the Spanish expeditions, and presents a relatively neutral view into their culture, of which what surprised me the most was their general attitude towards sexuality and reproduction. If you were assigned this book for a class, I wouldn't be too worried. It's a relatively short read, and a worthwhile one at that.

I'm not often driven to write reviews of my Amazon purchases, but, even though The Ohlone Way has been published for 40 years, it really resonated with me. I live close to the area the book describes and it brought to life the one-with-nature view that the Ohlone had (to the best of the author's knowledge). It has stayed with me for weeks now as I drive around the Bay Area--helping me not only imagine what life was like for the original inhabitants, but re-imagine what life could be like in the future. Highly recommended.

I should have read this sooner

This book is seriously a great book.The book was a requirement for my Anthropology class. I am not no A student, and I dislike reading, but the informationin the book made me want to read. The instructor went over the book, and I was able to soak up all the information about thebook. Our final assignment was about the Ohlone and it was an easy assignment because the book had all the information I needed to know. If you are buying the book for a class, I say it somewhat interesting and not boring. If you are purchasing just to know more or learn about the Ohlone, the book pretty much has all the information that is know about the tribe.

This is a fabulous classic which may turn your head around in a delightful way. The only reason I'm giving this edition four stars is because it has the new cover, but does not include the important afterword Margolin wrote years after writing the book when he was older and wiser.

An extremely interesting description of the native peoples who lived between the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas before the conquest of California. It brought a new, and I suspect more accurate image of these unique communities that differs significantly from the ways we have been accustomed to think of them. A must read for anyone interested in antropology of those that lived here long before us. It certainly divests one of the "cowboys and Indians" picture our culture has inculcated in us. I highly recommend it and have provided gift copies to some friends I knew would appreciate them.

I rate this book with 4 stars due to the authors ability to take us to a village that has not been in there for almost a century. To understand the California native way you need to use the wonderful visualizations in the first part of the book. And to feel the sorrow of the loss of the native ways you need only read the last few chapters.