Review of "Native Americans In Early Photographs," by Tom Robotham

Review of

Native Americans In Early Photographs, by Tom Robotham ISBN 1572153539

Five out of five stars

 This text of this book expresses the reality of the near extermination of the wide variety of the cultures of the Native Americans of North America. It also makes clear that what is seen in the images is in many ways an artificial portrayal of the people. However, despite these caveats, this is an educational book about the people that populated the North American continent before the Europeans arrived.

 Given the limitations of image generation technology of the time, the pictures were all posed, in the earliest ones the people had to remain stationary for extended periods of time. Yet, we can see the people in their native dress and the astute viewer will see the sadness in many of their faces. Within only a few decades, these people went from dominating their land to dying in droves and being herded to places totally unfamiliar to them and often desolate. The land that they were “given” was generally land that the whites did not want, until they did.

 Much has been said about the pace of change in the modern world and that it is unprecedented. I disagree with that, for placed in context, there was no more rapid change in the human condition than what the Native Americans experienced when their lives and land were taken. While you experience only a glimpse of that in this book, it is a valuable look at what once was and can never be again.