Monuments in Cedar: The Authentic Story of the Totem Pole

Edward Keithahn

• Publisher: Bonhopai Books
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781779794420
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Monuments in Cedar: The Authentic Story of the Totem Pole by Edward Keithahn is a landmark study of one of North America's most distinctive artistic and cultural traditions — the totem poles of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Written by a curator and ethnologist who lived among Indigenous communities of Alaska and British Columbia, this richly illustrated volume combines fieldwork, historical research, and native oral accounts to reveal the true meaning and artistry behind these majestic carvings.

Keithahn strips away the myths and misconceptions that long surrounded totem poles, explaining their origins, symbolism, and social function within the cultures of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. He describes how each pole — far from being a mere decoration — serves as a living record of ancestry, legend, and community history, a vertical chronicle in cedar linking the spiritual and the human. His narrative brings to life the craftsmen and carvers who shaped these monuments, the rituals that accompanied their raising, and the cultural revival that has kept the tradition alive despite colonial disruption.

Written with deep respect and first-hand knowledge, Monuments in Cedar stands as both a historical document and a tribute to enduring Indigenous creativity. It captures the resilience of Northwest Coast culture and the artistic genius that carved identity and memory into living wood.

 For readers of anthropology, art history, and Native studies, Keithahn's work remains an essential classic — authoritative, humane, and filled with the wonder of direct encounter with one of the world's great artistic heritages. 

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• I—The Totempolar Region
• II—Antiquity of the Totempole
• III—Types of Totempoles
• IV—How to Read a Totempole
• V—Social and Political Organization
• VI—Decorative Art
• VII—Northwest Coast Religion
• VIII—Oral Literature
• IX—The Potlatch
• X—Carving and Erecting the Totempole
• XI—Totem Restoration
• XII—Legends in Cedar
• BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CONSULTED