Review of Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of North American Indians

Catlin was a portrait painter who spent about 7 years living among the Indians of the Louisiana Purchase territories. His paintings, reproduced here as full-page color prints, are a treasure trove for anthropology. His writings are also a fitting riposte for anyone who claims that all historical Americans were racists, or otherwise intolerant of natives. His attitude is even more positive than that of Meriwether Lewis (who I recently read about in Undaunted Courage.)