The Spirit of Native America: Beauty and Mysticism in American Indian Art by Anna Lee Walters (1989, Paperback)

The Spirit of Native America: Beauty and Mysticism in American Indian Art is a fine book that tackles one of the most alluring and yet elusive topics about Native American culture. The author catalogs the collection of artifacts housed at the Colter Bay Visitors Center of the Grand Teton National Park, presenting them in quality color photos, while discussing the significance behind the items.

It can be difficult to express the personal meanings of these items to their creators. One of the greatest problems is the broad topic itself. It's difficult to sufficiently describe the mystical or spiritual meanings of items of any one particular tribe and in this book the author attempts to do so for several different tribes or regional divisions of Native Americans. As such, the reader gets only a superficial view of the topic under discussion.

In short, the book is a nice collection of information and a primer on the topic of Native spirituality but for a more detailed study of the topic other sources should be reviewed.