John C. Ewers was one of the leading scholars of Plains Indian cultures, and especially Plains Indian art during the 20th century. He published several important books and essays on the topic,
beginning with the award-winning Plains Indian Paintingin 1939, and he was one of the founders of the area of study known as ethnohistory. This, his final work, was begun in the 1990s with the
assistance of his daughter, Jane Ewers Robinson, and published posthumously. Here Ewers presents 15 essays and articles about the Plains Indian traditions he found particularly fascinating,
including images of the white man in nineteenth century Plains Indian art, the emergence of the named Indian artists in the American west, images of bears, weasels, water monsters, and Spanish
cattle in Plains art, Blackfeet picture writing, effigy pipes, pipes for Presidents, Assiniboin antelope-horn headdresses, and collaborations between Plains artists and anthropologists. The
essays are illustrated with full-color photos of the art, as well as illustrations and historical photos. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
