Historic Native Peoples of Texas by William C. Foster (review)

know and what is supposition? It is in this respect and this respect alone, that Reséndez strays from that fine line between popular and academic writing. Historians will certainly enjoy this volume, but will gain the most from the detailed endnotes and the lengthy “Further Reading” section, which offer a comprehensive guide to the most recent research on Cabeza de Vaca. University of North Texas Aaron W. Navarro Historic Native Peoples of Texas. By William C. Foster. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008. Pp. 364. Maps, illustration, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 978-0-29271-792-3. $60.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-29271-793-0. $24.94, paper.) In the past decade or so, William C. Foster has edited several books that have dealt with the journals of various Spanish and French expeditions into Texas that took place in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the work under review here, Foster has employed more than twenty diary and journal accounts of early European expeditions that have been published in English— from Cabeza de Vaca in 1528 to Governor Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo in 1721–1722—in order to describe the historic Native peoples of Texas during that two century period. The author divides the entire state of Texas into eight separate regions—between the Lower Brazos and the Lower Colorado Rivers; between the Lower Colorado and the San Antonio Rivers; the Central Texas Coast; South Texas; the Texas Trans-Pecos; the Texas Southern Plains; Northeast Texas; and the Upper Texas Coast—and then describes the various European expeditions that traversed each area over the course of two hundred years, paying particular attention to the different Indian tribes they encountered as well as the flora and the fauna. Accompanying each regional account is an annotated list of named Indian tribes in the area and maps that show tribal territories and European expedition routes. For example, Study Area II is concerned with the region between the Lower Colorado River and the San Antonio River. Eight European expeditions entered the region between 1686 and 1722: La Salle, Joutel, De León, Terán, Salinas, Espinosa, Alarcón, and Aguayo. Foster describes the physical attributes of the region and then provides outlines for the route of each Spanish and French interloper. He then discusses each tribe mentioned in the journals, including any special observations the chronicler made. Finally, Foster supplements the chapters by providing an alphabetical list of the fifty-six Indian groups that were encountered by the Europeans. After going through each region, Foster then draws interesting conclusions about the Texas Indians during this crucial period, the most obvious being that the Native peoples of Texas displayed a broad range of cultures and followed a wide variety of lifestyles. Despite the wide cultural variations in the Texas Native population, the author also identifies several common cultural traits among the various tribes. The Indians of Texas shared an exceptionally strong propensity for long-distance movement, trade, and interaction with other tribal groups, 2009 Book Reviews 315 *jan 09 11/26/08 12:00 PM Page 315 leading Foster to conclude that “the Native peoples in all areas seem much less provincial than most writers portray” (p. 243). A second common cultural feature that extended throughout all Native groups in the state was the firm and deep belief in a spiritual realm. Finally, Foster includes two appendices that list the twenty animals and forty plants that are mentioned in the journals. In the end, Foster’s work here is short on analysis and interpretation, but provides a very useful encyclopedic regional account of the Europeans and Native peoples of Texas who encountered one another during the relatively unexamined two hundred years before the Spanish occupation of Texas and the French establishment of Louisiana. University of North Texas F. Todd Smith La Salle in Texas: A Teacher’s Guide for the Age of Discovery and Exploration. By Pam Wheat-Stranahan, DVD by Alan Govenar. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2007. Pp. 150. Illustrations, TEKS, DVD, glossary, bibliography . ISBN 978-1-58544-607-4. $24.95, paper.) Pam Wheat-Stranahan, executive director of the Texas Archeological Society and seasoned educator...