I met Alison Owings years ago, when she was just starting to research a book about contemporary American Indian lives. Owings is an oral historian (her previous subjects have included waitresses and German women who lived during the Third Reich) who had little experience with native communities before she started working on Indian Voices, released this spring by Rutgers University Press.

By offering herself as a blank slate, Owings makes it OK for readers who also are likely to be largely unfamiliar with native issues. She weaves historical and cultural explanations throughout her extended profiles of 23 native people — snapshots of different tribes, different perspectives, experiences and interpretations of what it means to be Indian in 21st Century America.

Instead of an ethics lecture on the repatriation of indigenous artifacts, we hear from a blueberry farmer why he works so hard to return ancient remains to their tribal descendants. Tribal members from cities, suburbs and reservations in all corners of the country share their life stories and the perspectives on preserving language, building economies, tackling social problems and health issues, casino gaming and more.

Owings lets readers make their own sense of the how her interviewee’s varied lives and experiences might fit together to paint a broader picture. The result is an accessible uniquely personal look at key contemporary issues.  jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com