Intimate brilliantly redefines "memoir" by assembling its narratives from divergent sources: the mixed-race marriage of Paisley Rekdal's parents, the life of photographer Edward S. Curtis (chronicler and myth-maker of the Old West), and the almost unknown story of Alexander Upshaw, Curtis's Native American guide and interpreter. Typographically adventurous, Rekdal uses a combination of prose, poetry, and photographs to create a panoramic yet intimate encounter with American history, and a new way of thinking about the riddle of identity.