"Buscombe's fresh insights and fascinating research deconstruct the celluloid savage to a fare-thee-well. Especially illuminating are the accounts of those who played the roles--white actors, Native Americans and imposters--and the construction of the 'Injun' in Europe's Westerns. A valuable addition to the genre's bookshelf."
— Jim Kitses, San Francisco State University
"Deftly demonstrates that the motion-picture industry did not originate the image of the uncivilized savage; rather movies built upon a tradition that had been established in the centuries before. This is an accessible, informative, and original work by an author who has a masterful command of the subject. Essential."
— T. Maxwell-Long, Choice
"Buscombe has done an admirable job in a brief space of tracing the origins of various immages of Indians in the western."
— Journal of American History
"Buscombe's strength lies in the way he locates the cinematic images in the larger cultural discourse about Indians, rather than focusing only on the movies. Moreover, his clear, engaging, and jargon-free style helps make his survey a useful resource both for the general public and for students."
— S. Elizabeth Bird, Great Plains Quarterly