Arapaho journeys : photographs and stories from the Wind River Reservation /

For countless centuries along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, the Arapaho thrived in a vast territory unmolested by the invasions that were to come over the last 150 years. Photographer and anthropologist Wiles devoted several decades to documenting the descendants of these indigenous people, whose homeland has for many generations been confined to Wyoming's Wind River Reservation. During this time, Wiles lived "on the Rez" among the northern Arapaho, creating in her pictures and writings a compelling cross between photojournalism and autobiography. The result is a curious, irresistible mix of travelog and "mosaic ethnography," as she puts it, with chapters devoted to a variety of persons and families known to the author. These portraits reveal the often sad, proud admixture of this ancient culture within its contemporary American context. VERDICT An attractively produced, affectionate pictorial, this title will be of interest to students of the American West and its peoples.-Douglas F. Smith, Berkeley P.L., CA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.