"The Pictures Looked Like Historical Documents Even before He Developed Them"

"Curtis latched on to the idea that he should undertake his own grand project —to photograph every Native American nation on the continent before they disappeared. Doing such a project right required a lot of money. Curtis estimated he would need $70,000 over five years. He asked one of the wealthiest men on the planet for this huge sum—J.P. Morgan, the financier whose railroads crisscrossed Indian lands and helped accelerate the decline of their cultures.
"'I like a man who attempts the impossible,' Morgan told him."

Hector Tobar in the Los Angeles Times reviews Timothy Egan's Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis.