Beckham has done more to understand the history of the Indian people of the Oregon coast than any other author. As a member of the Coos tribe, I am grateful for his attention to a history which not only very few non-Indians but also Indian people are aware.

However, mostly missing in this book is the Indian voice, or a discussion of the motivation and understanding of the Indian people who were being uprooted and systematically killed. While Beckham is clearly sympathetic to Indians, this is still a book written from the dominant culture's perspective; even so, the discussion of the motivations of the non-Indian settlers is somewhat superficial.

Because so little is written on the subject, this is an important addition to the history of the Oregon Coast in the early 19th century.

Professor Beckham's presents a terse and lucid account of the displacement of the natives of the Rogue Valley and surrounding areas. I grew up in the Rogue Valley and in fact my family homesteaded there, although they began a couple of decades after the natives had been displaced to reservations. I wish very much that this book had been required reading in my high school, because we were raised to be essentially blind to the melancholy history of our area.

The book is essentially a scholarly memoir, with extensive footnoting for anyone wanting to find more detail in the historical record. Yet, the writing is accessible and vivid. This is a highly recommended read.

I bought this book about a year and a half ago when I first applied to go to graduate school. I was unsuccessful, and applied to several more schools this year. I pulled out the book again, because my first choice school is very expensive. Out of the six letters that I sent to organizations listed in the book for further information on whether I qualified for their awards, three have been returned marked "undeliverable as addressed." Where I went to school, fifty percent was definitely a flunking grade!

This edition was published in 1999 -- I think it's definitely time for some major corrections and a sixth edition! Also, Bill Cosby may want to ask them to take his endorsement off of the front cover. My younger sister will be a freshman at the same school where I plan to enroll this fall, and she didn't bother to write away for any of the awards listed in the book because she saw so many of my letters coming back!

It is good that the black students of America have a book to help them find out about scholarships. I will pick up the book as soon as I can.

Good text and excellent range maps. Artwork is not very good. Taxonomy is out-dated, and common names are simply wrong. Authors continued to use the tongue-twisting academic (not common) names devised in the first half of the last century, instead of standardized common names in use nationwide since 1978. Publishers should have had the book reviewed by herpetologists of a younger generation. Only book available on Louisiana herps, so use it until a better one comes along.