"Katie Gale - A Coast Salish Women's Life on Oyster Bay" by LLyn De Danaan. (Early reviewer) This book is obviously a labor of love. The author is an anthropologist and the subject of her book is a native American character from the past who lived near her own home on the Southern Puget Sound region of Washington State. It is clear Ms. De Danaan is fully engrossed in this story. The level of research that she brought to the story is impressive indeed. I am also a resident in the Puget Sound show more and fond of History in general and American History in particular. I should love this book and in an odd way I do love this book but not like I would have expected when I started. I enjoyed the picture that she painted of the life on Oyster Bay in the late 19th century and the tension that she exposed between the ancient residents of the region and the interlopers from the east. But I wanted to get to know Katie Gale and I felt that she was lost among the scores of colorful characters that populated the book and presumably the world that she lived in. To be fair, there isn't now much left of Katie Gale for the author to draw on and it was just long enough ago that there is really nobody left to ask but I selfishly still wanted to know more. Luckily there was so much rich detail about the people and the life they lived that I was still drawn into the world of Oyster Bay and if, as the author implied early on, the life of Katie Gale could be reflected off of the lives of those around her that we do have information about then I suppose that I did get to know her a little. The place names and locations were a little confusing at times so It helped a lot to be familiar with the area. I was a little surprised by the level of cultural mixing so soon after the European arrival in the area. This was apparently a short lived phenomena but I don't think it is well known. show less

This is a look at the story of a Native American woman, Katie Gale, who married a white man and lived a very hard life in the Puget Sound (which has recently been renamed the Salish Sea by the USGS Board on Geographic Names according to the author). It takes a look at her family history and adds some social history to make the narrative come to life. I found the organization of this work to be a bit awkward at times. I felt that the author tried to personalize the book too much by placing show more too much of the current landscape into the narrative when a straightforward historical narrative would have served better. As a genealogist, I felt the author did not document every statement or remark that should have been. When I look at the bibliography, many of the items are there in terms of a general group of records, but the specific details of the record used to support the statement are not in the end notes, making it difficult for persons to locate the specific item. I do, however, believe this is an important work on Native American life for women in that region and time period. The book, however, does not live up to the qualitative standard of other recently published microhistories such as The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle. show less

It must be very difficult to write a book about someone that leaves very little information; no diaries, no letters, only legal documents. The author does an admirable job describing the life of a native woman living on Puget Sound, working the oyster beds. The description is over long about the daily life of those living and working there; Katie doesn't come into full play until chapter eleven. I felt sympathy for her legal problems, but I never felt that I knew Katie, the woman and mother. show more And that is too bad. show less

This book tells the story of Katie Gale, an enterprising Native American woman married to a white settler in the Puget Sound area in the second half of the 19th century. It combines geography, cultural anthropology, history and the author's personal reflections about the area. I found many of the historical incidents interesting, but felt that the narrative rambled too much. I would have preferred less authorial speculation, even though that would condense the story. The book was clearly a show more labor of love for the author, and I admired the research that went into it. It clearly added to my knowledge of the area, but I couldn't say I loved the process of reading this book. show less