[Perhaps] the most valuable portion of [Song from the Earth: American Indian Painting] is the section containing interviews and comments from artists themselves. (p. 66)

For the most part, Highwater's presentation of the artists' comments and works, and the events and attitudes that shaped them, is very sensitive. But the first three chapters of the book are biased, so biased that it takes the reader another three chapters to recognize the depth and validity of the material that follows those introductory chapters. The book is aimed at a non-Indian, awed audience, and the author overemphasizes the "otherness" of Indians, placing Native American and their art on a pedestal, beyond the comprehension of an Anglo critic. In his efforts to ennoble modern Indian artists through a discussion of the attempts of many to preserve or recall their ethnic identity, Highwater refuses to recognize prehistoric American Indian art as a conscious...