The Indian of popular culture has never existed anywhere except in imagination. Yet these illusory Indians are so authentic to most Americans that no alternate images are acceptable. Even in recent decades, when increased awareness of the sensitivities of minority groups has become more prevalent, American Indians are seen as almost mythic figures.
Raymond William Stedman examines images of American Indians from the first contact with whites, who viewed them as a curiosity, through incarnations including the Noble Savage and, to the Puritans, an almost Satanic presence lurking in...