Bill Reid's work has long been acknowledged for its astute and eloquent analysis of Haida tradition, and for the paradox of making modern art from the old Haida stories. It helped to make the so-called renaissance of Northwest Coast Native art visible to all. Bill Reid and Beyond pays Reid the compliment of expanding on his own clear-eyed self-scrutiny as he came to stand for Native art and artists, more perhaps than he would have wished.

The book's nineteen contributors write from many perspectives, breaking down boundaries between art history and anthropology, between...