The first Americans : race, evolution and the origin of Native Americans /

Kennewick Man blurred the boundaries of science, linking reasonable questions about human anatomy and prehistory to bizarre speculations about a European origin of Native Americans and their stone tools. The author was part of a team that showed that this Native American looked less like a European (as he had originally been diagnosed) and more like a Polynesian. The book contains a great deal of cogently presented information, intelligently summarized research, and coherently argued theory. Its principal weakness is that is sees its central issue as biological, only loosely connected to identity politics or issues of cultural hegemony, scientific epistemology, and rhetoric. Consequently, Powell (Univ. of New Mexico) casually juxtaposes mathematical formulae against crude overstatements ("the Buhl skeleton's measurements were completely unlike those of native peoples anywhere in the western hemisphere"). What might the phrase "completely unlike" mean in such a context? A bit more self-reflection would have been welcome. Nevertheless, this book effectively summarizes the skeletal and archaeological evidence concerning the initial peopling of the American landmass. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. Marks University of North Carolina at Charlotte