"THIS HANDSOMELY ILLUSTRATED BOOK IS WARMLY RECOMMENDED TO READERS INTERESTED IN WESTERN PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY AND NATIVE AMERICAN AND ITALIAN AMERICAN STUDIES." Thomas Kailborn, for Journal of the West.
Paperback, 120 Pages; 8 1/2" x 11", Illustrated Index, Bibliography, Appendices, Notes, List of Collections.
A young Italian, Carlo Gentile, was enthralled with the American West. Beginning in 1863 he traveled through the wilds of British Columbia where he photographed Pacific Coast Indians, gold mines and mingled in elite society. After a stint as a studio photographer in California, Gentile migrated to the Southwest. On a trek through the Arizona Territory's Superstition Mountains, he chanced upon slave sellers after a massacre and bought a 4-year-old Yavapai Apache boy for thirty silver dollars. Gentile adopted the boy as his son, and the boy grew up to be Carlos Montezuma, physician and Indian rights activist. Gentile's strange path leads to Chicago where he teamed up with Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show, and to New York producing formal portraits of the rich and famous. His life unfolds in a "tumult of joy and sorrow," according to the author, from brilliant success and glamour to personal despair and a tragic end. This handsome volume is a tribute to Gentile's enterprising spirit and talent, and his unique contribution to photography and the American experience in the West. Illustrated with rare prints, maps, and portfolio.
