Indian Country [Hardcover]

Gwendolyn Cates (Author), Sherman Alexie (Introduction), W. Richard West (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2001

Indian Country is a major work of photojournalism: a beautiful, affecting, and candid portrait of Native American life today. Acclaimed photographer Gwendolen Cates, who has been going to Indian Country since she was a child, traveled around the country photographing the people of many different tribes and nations and the lands in which they live -- from the Tlingit of Alaska to the Navajo of the Southwest, from the Seneca in New York State to the Miccosukee in Florida, from Yurok to Cheyenne, Ojibwe to Hualapai. To gaze at these photographs is to take a journey through another world altogether. We see the classic images of elders and medicine men, children in traditional regalia, tepees set against the massive sky and epic landscapes. But Cates's photographs never romanticize, portraying instead the range of the Indian experience as it really is at this moment in time. Cates's subjects are families and children, leaders and entertainers, activists and urban professionals, even teenagers who have taken up hip-hop culture. These people speak in their own words throughout; their voices give additional insight into a reality few of us know. This book is a powerful document, and remarkable in its scope. Cates has photographed traditional people in remote areas, celebrities such as Robbie Robertson and Val Kilmer, and even gained access to Leavenworth Prison to photograph Leonard Peltier. Her focus is always the humanity of her subjects. As a result, her book truly becomes a portrait of a people. This is a project of enormous ambition, one not attempted since Edward Curtis one hundred years ago, and it is destined to become a classic and essential book.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

hotographer Gwendolen Cates offers a wide-ranging portrait of Native Americans in Indian Country, with hundreds of images of residents in Alaska and Florida, New York and Arizona. In school buses, rodeo rings, desert reservoirs, forests, an Alvin Ailey School ballet studio, prison, a New York City subway station, living rooms, race cars, in police uniforms, lacrosse uniforms, tribal dress for dances in short, every conceivable American setting or apparel the subjects of these color and black-and-white photos are not made into icons (though a portrait of Leonard Peltier is included), put on pedestals or pitied. "This book is a conversation between Gwendolen, a white artist with a camera, and a few dozen Indians," writes Sherman Alexie in his introduction. With quotations from some of the subjects, this collection is heartening in its honest, thoughtful treatment of individuals and their cultures.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st edition (October 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802116965
• ISBN-13: 978-0802116963
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 11 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,640,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Portraits of the people, February 3, 2002

By 

escaravelha "escaravelha" (Tacoma, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indian Country (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful book of astonishing images of people and landscapes, which forced me to think again about the place of Native Americans in this land. The astonishing spaces of reservation land are there because people were uprooted from soft and prosperous valleys; the names for the people are those imposed by European migrants: Indian, Native American. And yet here they are, occupying every role in modern society and in their ancient societies, living comfortably or in poverty in reservations or at all levels in cities and suburbia. Gwendolyn Cates captures their lives respectully with an artist's eye -- her approach could not be further from the distanced, anthropological staging of Edward Curtis. Do look at this book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Return Ticket to Indian Country, June 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Indian Country (Hardcover)

Being an individual who has travelled from England and been most fortunate and privileged to be hosted by and reside within Anishinaabe Reservation Communities in Wisconsin, I found this book, both, extremely exciting and enthralling. Its vivid content evoked many happy memories for me. I particularly like the synopsis, by Gwendolen, that appears directly on the inside front cover pages. This summary is written in a pace and style that amply encapsulates her journey, recollections and experiences as she travelled through Indian Country and with which I can so readily and personally identify. I, also, thoroughly enjoyed, indeed valued the contributions by Native writers, such as Sherman Alexie, feeling they served to reinforce the integrity of the book; one which I am delighted to include within my collection.

I am not usually, particularly enamoured with black and white photgraphs but strangely it was these very images, throughout the book, that made the greatest impact upon myself, finding them to be most compelling, poignant, haunting and thought provoking. The black and white pictures are adequately balanced by a selection of color plates that include some rather beautiful scenic shots, allowing Gwendolen the opportunity to demonstrate her abundant and skilful photographic work executed with professionalism.

This is an exceptional book containing wonderful photographs of diverse peoples, in many geographic locations, highlighting different events, occasions and moods. It is compiled by an individual who obviously has a fond regard, deep respect and a well-deserved admiration for Native People and their Cultures, while extending a high degree of sensitivity towards her subjects. The emotions portrayed throughout this work are sad, happy, tragic, painful, inspiring, friendly and humorous. Overall, I believe this is an important and significant book inasmuch as it portrays 'The People' as REAL human beings with different cultures, lifestyles, values and attitudes, subsequently dispensing with numerous misconceptions and the inevitable stereotypes.

Although American Indian People have been heinously wronged in the past and continue to endure gross injustices against them, today, they always have, currently do and will continue to make a valuable and unique contribution to the dominant society. I, also, believe this volume serves to illustrate Native People are in the unenviable position of having to balance and blend two starkly contrasting paradigms while endeavoring to, quite rightly, retain their Treaty Rights, Land Base, Traditional Cultures, Languages, Education methods, Customs, Spiritual Ceremonies, Arts and Crafts, now and for future generations. This ongoing process is accomplished through a tremendous resolve that is evident within these pages, while upholding their dignity, pride, honor and Cultural identity. This book portrays resolute peoples possessing a selfless courage and I express my sincere gratitude to them for allowing us, the readers, to share their lives, homes, heartache, joy, hopes, aspirations, thoughts, insights, values and principles in this manner, through their own words and captivating camera lens of Gwendolen Cates.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars nice shots and educational, June 12, 2002

By 

Meredith Snow (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indian Country (Hardcover)

This book was fabulous, except to my knowledge the author/photographer was not Native, which was a downer. Overall the book was very informative and touching. I knew a lot of the people and it was a gift for a Native friend and she knew lots of the people so that is what made it special. The photos were marvelous rich and meaningful I read it it one night it was a captivating read. 4 stars yes