The North American Indians

Aperture, 1988. Paperback. Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. It is thus near to Nature that much of the life of the Indian still is; hen ce its story, rather than being replete with statistics of commercial conqu ests, is a record of the Indian's relations with and his dependence on the phenomena of the universe--the trees and shrubs, the sun and stars, the lig htning and rain--for these to him are animate creatures. Even more than tha t, they are deified, therefore are revered and propitiated, since upon them man must depend for his well being. --Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indians Between 1896 and 1930, Edward S. Curtis documented Native Americans and the ir way of life in the western United States and British Columbia. His effor ts resulted in a 20-volume visual record accompanied by text--a document un equaled in the history of photography. 68 photographs from the original col lection have been selected for this Aperture book; the result is a compilat ion of Curtis' best-known images documenting the Native American way of lif e. Joseph Epes Brown, author of The Sacred Pipe and The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian, has written an insightful introduction, and has also selected texts to accompany the photographs to suggest the quality of mood and message that Curtis wanted to convey.