To Fish in Common

American Indian Quarterly

Boxberger knows his subject. He displays an impressive understanding of the technical development of fishing, and he repeatedly uses his interviews with Indians to inform and test archival and secondary sources.

Ethnohistory

A study of the Lummi Indians of northwestern Washington and the political and economic forces that have determined their changing fortunes over the past 150 years. Daniel Boxberger has made excellent use of documentary sources, oral history, and his own observations. . . . The book is compelling and well documented; it is also understated, frequently allowing the actions of the myriad contending interest groups to speak for themselves.

Pacific Historical Review

By focusing on the history of control over productive resources (in this case salmon, methods of harvest, processing, capital investment, and markets) Boxberger shows how the Lummi slid from independence and self-sufficiency to dependency, underdevelopment, and poverty. . . . Not only is it an excellent, in-depth study of the Lummi case, it can also serve as a metaphor for the larger question of Native American treaty rights and the resource provisions of agreements.

Booknews

Taking them as an example of tribes losing their self-sufficiency by being denied access to their traditional resources, Boxberger (anthropology, Western Washington U.) focuses on how the Lummi Indian fishers of northwestern Washington have been included in and excluded from the commercial fishing industry over the past hundred years. The original cloth edition was published by the University of Nebraska Press. A new foreword puts the study in the context of current political issues. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)