The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California

Sherburne Friend CookProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.8

Word count: 273K words
Chapters: 28

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California by CookAuthor: Cook, Sherburne Friend, 1896-1974,Language: English, Class: E011: History: America: America, Release Date: Feb 5, 2012

Editor's review

This is a historical study of the Aboriginal population of the San Joaquin Valley, California, by Sherburne Friend Cook, a scholar in twentieth-century physical anthropology and population history. Using rigorous academic methods, it traces the distribution, size, and changes of the region's Aboriginal groups and is an important reference for understanding Native American history and demography in the American West. As a free Project Gutenberg eBook, it is easily accessible and openly available, making it suitable for scholarly citation or background reading. Readers should note that it was written relatively early and that some terminology and perspectives bear the marks of their time; it is best read alongside contemporary Native American studies. For readers interested in California history, post-contact demographic change, and ethnographic methods, this book offers a solid case study.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and graduate students studying Native American history and demographic change in the American West
History enthusiasts interested in California local history and the history of colonial contact
University faculty and students who need an openly available text for scholarly citation or classroom materials

Not a good fit for

General leisure readers looking for popular stories or light reading
Readers impatient with academic demography and historical source criticism
Readers expecting contemporary Native American perspectives and oral traditions

Reading tips

Read the introduction and conclusion first to grasp the research questions and main data, then move on to the specific chapters.
Read alongside a map of California, marking the group distributions and place names mentioned in the text.
Read in comparison with contemporary Native American history studies, noting the temporal limitations of early academic writing.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or an academic study?

It is an academic historical-demographic study focusing on the distribution and changes of the Aboriginal population of the San Joaquin Valley, California; it is not a work of fiction.

What academic background is needed to read this book?

Basic English reading ability is sufficient, but familiarity with basic concepts in anthropology, demography, or Western American history will make understanding smoother.

Is this book suitable for direct citation?

It can be cited as a reference text for historical demographic research, but because it was written relatively early, it is advisable to check contemporary research as well and to note the temporal differences in terminology and perspective.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Sherburne Friend Cook Author · American · 1896–1974

Sherburne Friend Cook (1896–1974) was an American physiologist and historical demographer. Born in Massachusetts, he served as professor and chair of physiology at the University of California, Berkeley. A pioneer in the study of Native American populations in North America and Mesoamerica, he worked for decades to estimate pre-Columbian populations in California and other regions and their decline, and he promoted quantitative methods in archaeology. The library holds four of his works, all concerning Native American populations of California: The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California; Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820; The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California; and The Aboriginal Population of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California. These works combine documentary research with quantitative analysis of historical population estimates and colonial expeditions, offering a foundational reference for the field.