This thorough critical examination of photographic practices calls attention to the inability of most photography to communicate the lived experiences of native people or their history. Faris's survey, beginning with the earliest photographs of Navajo in captivity at the Bosque Redondo and including the most recent glossy picture books and calendars, points up the Western assumptions that have always governed photographic representation of Navajo people.

Drawing on exhaustive archival research to unearth rarely published photographs as well as unpublished photographs by well-known photographers, Faris documents Navajo resistance to the West's view (and viewfinder) and persistent attempts to overcome or dismiss such resistance. He challenges the photographic history of the Navajo people as presented by photographers, historians, and anthropologists, and explores the social and legal conditions that make such photography possible. Confronting many readers' nostalgic expectations, Navajo and Photography will appeal to all those with an interest in the juxtaposition of cultures and photographic critique.