Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis

A New York Times Notable Book
A Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Timothy Egan reveals the life story of the man determined to preserve a people and culture in Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis.

“A vivid exploration of one man's lifelong obsession with an idea . . . Egan’s spirited biography might just bring [Curtis] the recognition that eluded him in life.” ​— ​The Washington Post

Edward Curtis was charismatic, handsome, a passionate mountaineer, and a famous portrait photographer, the Annie Leibovitz of his time. He moved in rarefied circles, a friend to presidents, vaudeville stars, leading thinkers. But when he was thirty-two years old, in 1900, he gave it all up to pursue his Great Idea: to capture on film the original inhabitants before the old ways disappeared.

Curtis spent the next three decades documenting the stories and rituals of more than eighty North American tribes. It took tremendous perseverance  ​— ​ ten years alone to persuade the Hopi to allow him to observe their Snake Dance ceremony. And the undertaking changed him profoundly, from detached observer to outraged advocate. Curtis would amass more than 40,000 photographs and 10,000 audio recordings that would redefine the history of photography, and he is credited with making the first narrative documentary film. In the process, the charming rogue with the grade school education created the most definitive archive of the American Indian.

How did one man with a grade-school education create the most definitive archive of a people?

A Man of Contradictions: Discover Edward Curtis, the famed society photographer and friend to presidents who sacrificed his career to spend three decades living among more than eighty tribes. American West History: Go inside the monumental effort to create a 20-volume, 40,000-photograph, and 10,000-audio-recording masterpiece of American Indian life. An Advocate’s Journey: Witness the profound transformation of a detached observer into an outraged advocate for the people he set out to document. Perilous Fieldwork: From persuading the Hopi to allow him to witness their secret Snake Dance ceremony to navigating unforgiving landscapes, follow a story of tremendous perseverance.