James Dempsey is pretty up front about his new book: "It's a book full of murder and intrigue and theft, and not necessarily - nice acts of taking people's hair and other body parts."

He's also quick to point out that Blackfoot War Art: Pictographs of the Reservation Period, 1880 – 2000 is a scholarly work, not a coffee table book, even though one reviewer seemed relieved that "it still works as a coffee table book."

A professor in the Faculty of Native Studies and former director of the School of Native Studies, Dempsey spent more than a decade researching and tracking down stories and images that fill the book, en route to earning his PhD in art history from the University of East Anglia.

Many of the images illustrate not only battles, but also a way of looking at war and warfare that is unfamiliar in modern society. “Even the term ‘war’ brings up difficulty in translation. I’ve had a number of people try to translate ‘warfare’ to me,” Dempsey said, adding that the word ‘gamble’ is a more accurate translation of the Blackfoot’s view of war – which is a risky venture.

Plains Indians, he observes, were not out to exterminate one another or to take land from one another, although that did happen. Rather, the purpose of ‘war’ “was for individuals to gain status and honour within their band or tribe.”

There is a similar twist to the practice of stealing horses from enemy camps. “Different cultures have different ways of looking at activities. Horse stealing was thought of as horse ‘raiding’. ” Dempesey says, for example, that taking horses from an enemy tribe was thought of as raiding, but taking horses from a member of your own tribe would be regarded as theft.

People who came away from an enemy camp with horses would give them away within a few days, as a way of advertising their status, he added.

Other ways status was communicated was through pictographs on robes and teepees. And Dempsesy’s book is a rich collection of imagery that recounts the battles, raids, and life stories of the Blackfoot – including modern versions.