Powwow
It is hard to imagine how this book could be more beautiful. Its scores of photographs, most of them full-page, show Native Americans of dozens of nations in full dance regalia, and they are breathtaking. It is not just the vibrant colors and resplendent patterns of the costumes but also, more important, the strength of spirit revealed in the dancers' faces that draw our eyes into these photographs. Indeed, comments from each dancer on the tribal and individual significances of costumes and dances illuminate, often poignantly, but they do not say more than the faces. Filled with pride and fervor, the dancers look out at us. Here is Ojibwa Norman Kelly-Kinew, his yellow-painted face streaked with blue, his eyes wise and sad beneath a hat of beads and fur. Here is Nooksac-Nez Perce Reginald A. George in a feather mask and leather hat, his white face paint emphasizing the determination in his jaw. And Nellie Two Bulls of the Oglala Sioux: she half turns from us, her half-smile knowing and confident. Such are the faces of the powwow, and the spirits behind them.Patricia Monaghan