I've always been fascinated by American Indians, and growing up on the southern shore of Lake Erie made the tribes who once inhabitated the Great Lakes region of particular interest. I remember the original hardcover edition of this book very well: the large coffeetable size, the wonderful illustrations including many full color plates, maps pointing out the areas where the various tribes once lived, and a brief description of each tribe's history.

I've always wanted a copy of this book of my own (I used to borrow the copy from my gradeschool library all the time), and thus was quite pleased to see that it had been reprinted with a 2nd edition in 1999. I was a little apprehenisve about the fact that it's only available in paperback and that the cover illustration had been changed (the original hardcover featured a beautiful painting of two Indian hunters in the winter), but I was very happy to finally be able to order a copy. Unfortunatly, I'm disappointed in the 2nd edition's appearrance- the book has been shrunk from coffeetable size to mid-sized textbook, and all the color illustrations have been reprinted in black and white. "Great Lake Indians" by William Kubiak is a beautiful book, if you can get the hardcover with the color illustrations; the 2nd edition paperback, on the other hand, is a low budget imitation.