The Road to Lame Deer

Photographer Jerry Mader lived with the Northern Cheyennes in Lame Deer, Mont., during the early 1970s, a period he chronicles in The Road to Lame Deer, a deeply felt memoir. Henry Tall Bull, a medicine man, plays a pivotal role for Mader; after a long period of conditional friendship, Tall Bull ascertains that the photographer's intentions are honorable and introduces him to the more private life of the tribe, including peyote meetings and other spiritual practices intimately connected to the earth. The leader's trust of the photographer also made it possible for Mader to take photographs of tribe members (many reproduced here) that illustrate the complicated personal histories he records. Along the way, Mader discusses such sociological issues as the history of the rise of alcoholism on reservations, and how patterns of sexual behavior have changed in response to Christianity.