Georgia to publish a different kind of bird book

Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South is what you might well call “a passionate read.” Wonderfully illustrated in color, author Shepard Krech III, a professor of anthropology at Brown University, is a lifelong birder and naturalist. One reviewer has called this book “superbly researched and splendidly illustrated tour of Southeastern Indian ethno-ornithology.” – Raymond D. Fogelson, University of Chicago. Krech is the author of the previous book, The Ecological Indian (Norton, 1999), and here he explores bird mythology, and he examines the complex and immutable influences of birds on Native American culture and their unique worldview. It moves beyond mere identification and habitat to really seek out the many cultural connections between birds and native peoples.

Birds were clearly important as spiritual beings, and many natives’ donned feathers and plumage, and sought to evoke avian powers in their ceremonies and dances. Bird imagery is adorned on pottery, cravings, and jewelry. Birds also played a central role in ritual healing practices, folklore, religion, and even warfare. The winged creatures of the air clearly had a remarkable and lasting impact on Native American life in the South, and probably elsewhere, and what is being called the whole Indian-bird dynamic. It takes a distinguished ecological ethno-historian like Professor Krech to put it all together for readers in one dynamite package.