The author has drawn on interviews collected during a quarter-century of fieldwork with Indian elders, who in recalling their own experiences during the buffalo days, revealed unique insights into Plains Indian life. Ewers uses his expertise in examining Indian-made artifacts and drawings as well as photographs taken by non-Indian artists who had firsthand contact with Indians. He also has researched unpublished documents in archives and museums as well as previously published contemporary accounts.

Ewers explores the role of women in Plains Indian life, including warfare. He throws new light on important changes in Plains Indian culture, on the history of intertribal relations, and on Indian relations with whites - traders, missionaries, soldiers, settlers, and the U.S. Government.

Written by the dean of American ethno-history for a new generation of scholars and for general readers with an interest in Indian history, Plains Indian History and Culture reveals Indian attitudes toward other Indians and toward whites during the nineteenth century - when Plains Indian life was to change forever.