It is written to much like a chronicle rather than a novel. It gives a little different outlook to the American and Canadian West in the mid 1800's. The story also shows Canadians that it's West was not "won" without some violence.....It may spark a little more interest in the Canadian West as soon as we take off our "rose coloured" glasses and look for a little more of the truth.

I have not read this book.....but it definitely has to be good because this photographer is awesome. I have seen her work in museums and it inspires me in my own art work. You definitely should take a look at this.

Although Mr. Gallop's cultural knowledge of the Basque's (at least the French Basques) was very in depth, as a Student of Spanish Literature at UCLA, I found it dreary, pompous, and inclined to one side of the Pyrenees. The author assumed that his readers knew French. Well I'm sorry, I only know English, Castilian, Italian, and a little Catalan. Another unfortunate point is that it did not offer anything past 1930, which was probably my fault. But I see that progress has been made over seventy years. It wasn't until the later chapters of this book that there were signs of life. It is a shame because there is little affordable information for students out there. Until there is, I will continue buying my books from the true source, Spain!

I usually don't review books that have already been reviewed, but I think the customer below severely misjudged this book.

First of all, the reason why it doesn't go much beyond 1930 is because that's when it was published. British folklorist Rodney Gallop was a pioneer in the field of Basque anthropology and "A Book of the Basques" was one of the earliest (and remains one of the most readable) attempts to explain Basque culture to the English-speaking world.

Gallop inclined heavily toward the French side of the Pyrénées for two reasons. First, that's where he did most of his research. Second, as he points out in the book, the French Basque Country -- at least up to the time he wrote -- had always been much less heavily industrialized than its Spanish counterpart, making it much more ideal for an anthropologist's study. The ancient traditions of the Basques survived more intact in France and, additionally, the French Basques were more culturally "introspective" than their Spanish cousins; that is, they never played as prominent a part in the national life of France as did the Spanish Basques in Spain and its empire. Consequently, they remained much closer to their "roots", so to speak.

Unlike the reviewer below, I thought the book was extremely well written and a fantastic source of information on traditional Basque folklife. Gallop does quote a lot from French, but he wrote in a time when you weren't considered educated until you knew a little French, and a little Latin, too. (In other words, don't blame Gallop -- blame yourself!). The book is divided into chapters on such aspects of Basque folklife as language and literature, folksongs, folkdance, proverbs, Basque houses, superstition and witchcraft, fishermen and corsairs (!), decoration, and that great game, "pelote". Additionally, the author discusses some of the many theories regarding the mysterious origins of the Basques, which, admittedly, is of less interest today than it was in 1930 (the Golden Age of bogus racial theories!).

Unfortunately, much of the book has to be shifted into the past tense today, since the traditional Basque folkways Gallop describes have grown more and more obsolete since he wrote. But as work of history, it's still a classic and is destined to remain one. A+