We Are the Land: A History of Native California

by Damon B. Akins, William J. Bauer Jr.

Rewriting the history of California as Indigenous.

Before there was such a thing as “California,” there were the People and the Land. Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush, and settler colonial society drew maps, displaced Indigenous People, and reshaped the land, but they did not make California. Rather, the lives and legacies of the people native to the land shaped the creation of California. We Are the Land is the first and most comprehensive text of its kind, centering the long history of California around the lives and legacies of the Indigenous people who shaped it. Beginning with the ethnogenesis of California Indians, We Are the Land recounts the centrality of the Native presence from before European colonization through statehood—paying particularly close attention to the persistence and activism of California Indians in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The book deftly contextualizes the first encounters with Europeans, Spanish missions, Mexican secularization, the devastation of the Gold Rush and statehood, genocide, efforts to reclaim land, and the organization and activism for sovereignty that built today’s casino economy. A text designed to fill the glaring need for an accessible overview of California Indian history, We Are the Land will be a core resource in a variety of classroom settings, as well as for casual readers and policymakers interested in a history that centers the native experience.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Indigenous, Native American, American History, Politics, Audiobook

377 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2021

Reviews

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a long time to read this book, as it was challenging to read a history of genocide while also seeing genocide in my phone every single day. But I'm ultimately very glad that I finished it. This is a well researched, approachable, indigenous-authored history of the native people in the land now called California. I enjoyed how place specific this book is. I felt much more connected to the history recognizing nearly every place name, and once the book got passed around the year 1900 I started to also recognize names of organizations that still exist and activists who I'm familiar with. I have a much better understanding of the patchwork creation of and the broken promises of the reservations, land allotments, and rancherias. I was happy whenever the book mentioned Pomo master basket weavers Elsie Allen and Mable McKay, who my mom has been telling me about for years, or Greg Sarris, Santa Rosa based chairman of the Graton Rancheria and author. I have a better understanding of this land where I have lived and worked all my life after reading this book.

[Robert Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last few chapters are better than the first ones: more energized and coherent. This is a badly needed book for a mostly ignored part of history, and it's clear from its limitations that the history deserves several in-depth books. A book on the various indigenous community organizations and their development and politics, for example; a book on the protest movements in California in the 60s and 70s and their interaction with non-California indigenous peoples and groups; a book based on oral histories going in depth into the individual history we have on record hidden away in obscure libraries and even in researchers' file drawers or attics. None of that is in this book, and it makes the book less interesting than it should be. Anyone interested in California indigenous history needs to read this book, but don't expect it to be anything more than a hard slog, and follow up with the extensive sources in each chapter, where the real gold lies--if you can find those sources; a lot of them are pretty obscure. And don't stop reading after the first few chapters, make sure you read the last ones. Also, the interspersed chapters on specific places are worth the rest of the book, make sure you read those too.

[Carrie Modi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone living in California. California history is a history of genocide and erasure of the many Indian tribes living across it. Nonetheless, California Indians persist and their history continues through the present with environmental degradation at the hands of “urban progress” and economic injustice, to name only a few issues. I’m frankly embarrassed by how much I learned from this book and how much my California private and public education left out. If you read There There recently - this is a needed companion that includes a chapter on urban Indian history and culture. The first few chapters are pretty flat/ dry - hang with it, it picks up a little and is important info.

[lexi🤍 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5 stars!

[Kathy Mcconkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted very much to dig into this book and learn alot, but unfortunately the authors have somehow pounded the life out of the story...the writing felt dry, disjointed, without focus. Anyway, I could see after the first chapter that I could not read it straight through. As a non-native Californian, living on the original lands of the Tongva people, I am very interested in this history. So, I will skim through to find the most alive portions. Based on the recommendation of another reviewer, I will definitely read the last few chapters around the lives and activism of native peoples in the present time.

I should mention that there is a huge list of sources at the end of each CHAPTER.....that's ALOT of sources. I may find what I'm looking for somewhere in these lists. So I appreciate the authors' thoroughness in gathering them.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book should be required reading in college.

[Alison Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really ought to be assigned reading in all California schools -- because let me tell you, the version of Indigenous history we got was, shall we say, glossed over.

This was a really thorough and informative read, and I appreciate so much the obvious effort and love that went into it. The authors wanted to tell all facets of the history of California's Indigenous tribes, and it really helped bring them to life for me. Seeing how they handled encounters with "explorers" and colonizers and missionaries was especially interesting, because it was clear the tribes wanted to find ways to work with and create some sort of connections with these people, but also wanted to maintain their sovereignty and autonomy, and that of their land. Of course, the people tromping into the land like they already owned it had other ideas, which they carried out through brutal and abhorrent means. Any "problems" with the Native people were not caused BY the Native people, let's just put it that way. And I really do think all Californians -- especially those born and raised here, like me -- should read books like this to gain a better understanding of, for example, what those Missions we all took field trips to as kids were really about.

I do think this was at times a bit disjointed in the way it would quickly hop about from lore and mythology into historic fact and back again, and sometimes it got a little too into the nitty-gritty details of certain encounters or events. I also really wish the source materials had been listed at the end of the book rather than the end of each chapter, because when reading it on Kindle, that made it difficult to know the actual amount of reading time left. But a very worthwhile and meticulous work that, if I had the funds, I would put into the hands of every public school teacher in the state.

(Also as a note of recognition: I am currently living on land of the Graton Rancheria and Southern Pomo tribes.)

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

And what is possible is proof that the story is not over, that we are in the middle of it. It also shows that out of the tragedy comes the promise of survivance and the power to make that promise real.

Because who would believe the fantastic and terrible story of all of our survival
those who were never meant
to survive?

A thorough account of the Indigenous People of California. This book explores California's history through native lens, covering aspects of their lifestyle, traditions, and experiences. It details encounters with the Europeans and Spanish, the missions, and the Gold Rush and its impacts, contrasting European depiction of the Indigenous and this part of history. We Are the Land also explores Indigenous efforts at land recovery and cultural preservation.

I picked We Are the Land up to gain further understanding of the area I grew up in. This book is insightful and valuable to anyone living in California or interested in learning about California's history. There are also plenty of sources at the end of each chapter for further information.

[Momi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important, harrowing content, dense with references and stories for which I would revisit this book in the future.

Absolute necessity for all guests to Native Californians’ homelands.

[Grete Howland · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the vein of "Lies My Teacher Told Me" and "A People's History of the United States", the content in "We Are the Land" will leave you wondering why no one taught you these stories before and excited to share the facts with anyone willing to listen...if you can stick with it.

Unfortunately, as with many academic books, We Are the Land is dry. There's no doubt the authors worked on this project with love, respect, and a passion for telling California history from an Indigenous-centered perspective, but it is fact after fact after fact with almost no editorial personality and too few narrative connections to create any wave of story momentum for the reader to ride. Instead, she must persist of her own will to take in the information being presented.

In theory, I recommend the book, especially for folks raised in California whose only education about their state's history--like mine--centered on the missions and the Gold Rush with no mention of who else was there before and while all of that happened; at the same time, I wouldn't blame someone if they couldn't get through it. You have to want to read it for the sake of the information.

Something I did very much appreciate about the authors' style is the way they presented their sources in a more narrative format at the end of every section. Should one want to go back and follow the historical conversation about a particular event or era, they made it very easy to do so, and for that reason I'll be keeping the book on my shelf.

[Stephanie Vatz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time reviewing this book because it's honestly more of a textbook than a work of nonfiction which is why it took so long to read! I learned a ton which is why I stuck through it. It's an incredibly difficult task I'm sure to distill thousands of years of history of many, vastly different Indigenous tribes so I can't say that I have a solution for the authors either.

While I wished the writing style was more engaging, I really enjoyed learning about the incredible diversity and rich histories of Indigenous Californians. The book was most compelling when it pointed to the people who fought back against oppression, slavery and settler colonialism. It was also compelling when it surfaced stories that were buried by white-washed history and sometimes literally buried by developments and infrastructure. I hope many details of this book get incorporated into the state history for students in California.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An in-depth, well-researched and badly needed book. Unfortunately it is poorly written and reads more like a draft to an academic paper—clunky, repetitive, prose-less and dry.

It's absolutely worth the read for the centuries of history that has been white-washed or otherwise ignored, but I wish the authors had worked with a better editor and/or a talented nonfiction writer who could have brought life to the writing.

[Kiia✦⋆⃰✶✷°⃰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative, well researched book on an extremely important topic. Interesting but could have been edited a little. I learned a lot but kept checking throughout the process of how many pages there were still to do.

[Kaarn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A scholary account of the California indigenous people. Very well researched and documented. Because of the terrible way the natives were and are treated through history, this was a difficult read.

[Eileen Granfors · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough, though not entertaining, history of the tribes in California from pre-Spanish exploration to the present day.

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been trying to read more about the histories of we often do not hear about: the indigenous peoples of various lands, minority groups that simply do not have their stories told, etc. So I was intrigued by this book looking at the Indigenous peoples of what is now known as California and their connection and history with the land. School told me the very basics about the missionaries who came to convert and conquer, etc. but not of the stories and histories of the people who were.

The book covers various peoples from pre-Spanish times to the relatively present day, looking how everything from colonialism to the modern day activism has affected the various nations/peoples. Many of the topics you think would be covered as it relates to California's specific history is: Spanish missions, the Gold Rush, etc. This was definitely interesting because I knew of some parts of it, but not necessarily about/from the people who were here before.

I have to agree with the reviews. There is a ton of research here, and will make for a fantastic reference but it was a slog. It does read like an academic draft in desperate need of editing and I have to say, it needs a ghostwriter. It feels like a bunch of notes strung together. And while I do not necessarily expect any sort of "story" (too complex) it was genuinely hard to get through, even by academic text standards.

Of course, that should not dissuade people from reading it, but just be warned that it is not a book that you can really "breeze" through and that depending on your purpose, you may be better off buying a copy to work through on your own time/wait for the library lines to die down, etc. If you're a student looking for resources/information about indigenous peoples of California, though, this is probably a really great resource.

Borrowed from the library and that was definitely the best for me.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a white Californian, I really appreciated this book. It was exactly what I was looking for--an overview of the history to give me some ideas for what to research further for a digital humanities project I am working on. I would highly recommend this to anyone living in California who is unfamiliar with the broad history of Indigenous people in that land. I think the writing is really approachable for being an ostensibly academic text. I LOVE how they discussed their sources at the end of every chapter as specifically not only a resource they used to write but also as recommendations for where the reader can look for more information. I was much more likely to actually READ the source notes than I have been with some of the academic material I've been reading for class recently. I personally really liked that this was very much a survey of hundreds of years of history, and that's why I'd recommend it so highly. Hit the important points and go back to the things that are most interesting to you.

Caveat to all this is that I haven't read any reviews yet, so I can't speak to how it was received academically. But I liked it.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exploration of the history of California through the perspective and experience of its native inhabitants.

The narrative throughout centers native Californians: their understanding of their origins; their experiences of encounters with Europeans and explanations of their behavior compared to how it was seen by the Europeans; the missions, Mexican rule, the Gold Rush, and the work toward marginalization; the attempt to recover land and to maintain integrity as native Californians.

The story is powerful because of its perspective and very helpful. Understanding why the native Californians responded as they did to Europeans was quite insightful and does well at showing the distance between what Europeans perceived versus what the natives were actually about.

We have finally reached the point of understanding that there is great wisdom and insight from Native people and their traditions. Very worthwhile.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please seek reviews by diverse readers, especially CA indigenous folks.
This is an intense book that attempts to pack in California indigenous history info one book. Obviously that was going to leave some topics and events out. I think it did a good job presenting the entirety of the CA area - north, central, coastal, south, etc. There were stories of individuals and communities as well as more broadly painted information. It gives you some basic information and a lot of sources to dive into topics you find interesting. Overall, I learned a lot and felt it to be valuable to my white modern day Californian self.

The audiobook is a bit tough, as the book is set up more as a collegiate or technical reference, so there are pages and pages for citations and references at the end of each chapter/topic. One was over 15 minutes long of just the citations. There are also noticeable corrections made, as the voice is significantly different at random points.

[Noli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eyeopening, Heart wrenching, disgust, are just a few words I feel when read this book. As someone who loves California History this book did a good job touching all the time periods of “California” I applaud the authors for citing all their references. For anyone wanting to know about native or indigenous people of California and the history of how they were wrongly pushed from their lands, this is the book.

[York · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling and thorough coverage of California Indians, including significant evidence supporting the fact that the indigenous people of California did not disappear but continued organizing, working, and living out their traditions even after genocide and in the face of government non-recognition.

[رامي الرفوع · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot about California by reading the history from the perspective of indigenous people of California. While the story in general is sad and speak of the genocide that Indians had suffered under the American settlers, the book still makes the point that Indians are not passive actors but rather actively shaping their own future.

[Tascha Folsoi]

I have read the Hurtado book on the California Indians, but this provided different information and a great look at the cultural and legal means California Indians have used to survive physically and culturally despite a centuries long assault.

[Tatiana Torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow at times, like a textbook. But man, did I learn so much . About the people, about the awful things this state and the country did to them. About resilience. I honestly recommend to every Californian.

[Mills College Library]

979.00497 A3153 2021

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very relevant, readable history of Native people in California, starting at the time of European contact. Highly recommended.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started well but got difficult to follow

[Chloe VL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for anyone who lives in California!

[Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive, distressing survey of Indigenous resistance to centuries of settler colonialism in California.