In the late 1700s when European colonizers arrived on the Northwest Coast, they reported the presence of vigorous, diverse cultures-Tlingit, Haida, Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl), Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka), Coast Salish, and Chinookan-with a population conservatively estimated at more than 180,000. Just a century later the population had plummeted to only 35,000-a devastating loss of Indigenous lives caused by the introduction of diseases brought by settlers and colonizers. The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence examines the first century of contact and the effects of introduced diseases such as smallpox, malaria, measles, and influenza on Native American population size, structure, interactions, and viability. Whereas in most parts of the Americas disease transfer and depopulation occurred early and were poorly documented, the later date of Euro-American contact in the Pacific Northwest means that records are relatively complete. Through doctors' records, ships' logs, diaries, censuses, and Native American oral traditions and testimonies, Robert Boyd reconstructs the process of disease transfer and the profound demographic and cultural impact of specific epidemics. This definitive study of introduced diseases in the Pacific Northwest illuminates the magnitude of human suffering and traces connections between these processes and cultural change.

Chinookan peoples have lived on the Lower Columbia River for millennia. Today they are one of the most significant Native groups in the Pacific Northwest, although the Chinook Tribe is still unrecognized by the United States government. In Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia River, scholars provide a deep and wide-ranging picture of the landscape and resources of the Chinookan homeland and the history and culture of a people over time, from 10,000 years ago to the present. They draw on research by archaeologists, ethnologists, scientists, and historians, inspired in part by the discovery of several Chinookan village sites, particularly Cathlapotle, a village on the Columbia River floodplain near the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. Their accumulated scholarship, along with contributions by members of the Chinook and related tribes, provides an introduction to Chinookan culture and research and is a foundation for future work.

In the late 1700s when European colonizers arrived on the Northwest Coast, they reported the presence of vigorous, diverse cultures-Tlingit, Haida, Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl), Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka), Coast Salish, and Chinookan-with a population conservatively estimated at more than 180,000. Just a century later the population had plummeted to only 35,000-a devastating loss of Indigenous lives caused by the introduction of diseases brought by settlers and colonizers. The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence examines the first century of contact and the effects of introduced diseases such as smallpox, malaria, measles, and influenza on Native American population size, structure, interactions, and viability. Whereas in most parts of the Americas disease transfer and depopulation occurred early and were poorly documented, the later date of Euro-American contact in the Pacific Northwest means that records are relatively complete. Through doctors' records, ships' logs, diaries, censuses, and Native American oral traditions and testimonies, Robert Boyd reconstructs the process of disease transfer and the profound demographic and cultural impact of specific epidemics. This definitive study of introduced diseases in the Pacific Northwest illuminates the magnitude of human suffering and traces connections between these processes and cultural change.