front cover of As Long As The River Shall Run
As Long As The River Shall Run
An Ethnohistory Of Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation
Martha C. Knack
University of Nevada Press, 1999
The history of the Northern Paiutes of Pyramid Lake in northwestern Nevada is one fraught with the conflicts and tensions of the modern West—relentless encroachment by non-Indians into Indian lands; disputes over scarce water; endangerment of a rare and valuable species of fish—all played out on a stage that stretches from the centers of national politics in Washington, DC, to a remote desert reservation where an ancient people struggles to preserve the traditional center of its spiritual and economic life. Martha Knack’s and Omer Stewart’s brilliant interdisciplinary study of the Pyramid Lake Reservation, first published in 1984, is considered a major landmark in American Indian history—a lucid and insightful examination of the Paiutes, their reservation, and the ongoing controversy over control of their land and the life-giving Truckee River waters that feed Pyramid Lake. The complex interethnic relations described in this book offer readers a case study of the dominant issues in Indian affairs and the themes of the legislation and court decisions that shape the fates of native peoples.
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As Long as the Rivers Run
Hydroelectric Development and Native Communities
James B. Waldram
University of Manitoba Press, 1993
In past treaties, the Aboriginal people of Canada surrendered title to their lands in return for guarantees that their traditional ways of life would be protected. Since the 1950s, governments have reneged on these commitments in order to acquire more land and water for hydroelectric development. James B. Waldram examines this controversial topic through an analysis of the politics of hydroelectric dam construction in the Canadian Northwest, focusing on three Aboriginal communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He argues that little has changed in our treatment of Aboriginal people in the past hundred years, when their resources are still appropriated by the government “for the common good.” Using archival materials, personal interviews and largely inaccessible documents and letters, Waldram highlights the clear parallel between the treatment of Aboriginal people in the negotiations and agreements that accompany hydro development with the treaty and scrip processes of the past century.
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The Long and the Short of It
The Science of Life Span and Aging
Jonathan Silvertown
University of Chicago Press, 2013
Everything that lives will die. That’s the fundamental fact of life. But not everyone dies at the same age: people vary wildly in their patterns of aging and their life spans—and that variation is nothing compared to what’s found in other animal and plant species. A giant fungus found in Michigan has been alive since the Ice Age, while a dragonfly lives but four months, a mayfly half an hour. What accounts for these variations—and what can we learn from them that might help us understand, or better manage, our own aging?

With The Long and the Short of It, biologist and writer Jonathan Silvertown offers readers a witty and fascinating tour through the scientific study of longevity and aging. Dividing his daunting subject by theme—death, life span, aging, heredity, evolution, and more—Silvertown draws on the latest scientific developments to paint a picture of what we know about how life span, senescence, and death vary within and across species. At every turn, he addresses fascinating questions that have far-reaching implications: What causes aging, and what determines the length of an individual life? What changes have caused the average human life span to increase so dramatically—fifteen minutes per hour—in the past two centuries? If evolution favors those who leave the most descendants, why haven’t we evolved to be immortal? The answers to these puzzles and more emerge from close examination of the whole natural history of life span and aging, from fruit flies, nematodes, redwoods, and much more.
 The Long and the Short of It pairs a perpetually fascinating topic with a wholly engaging writer, and the result is a supremely accessible book that will reward curious readers of all ages.
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front cover of A Long, Deep Furrow
A Long, Deep Furrow
Three Centuries of Farming in New England
Howard S. Russell
Brandeis University Press, 1982
A selection of the History Book Club.
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