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Petra Mayer

Credit Izolda Trakhtenberg

Petra Mayer is an associate editor and resident nerd at NPR Books, focusing on genre fiction. She brings to the job passion, speed-reading skills, and a truly impressive collection of Doctor Who doodads.

Previously, she was an associate producer and director for the weekend editions of All Things Considered. She handled all of the show's books coverage, and she was also the person to ask if you wanted to know how much snow falls outside NPR's Washington headquarters on a Saturday, how to belly dance, or what pro wrestling looks like up close and personal.

Mayer originally came to NPR as an engineering assistant in 1994, while still attending Amherst College. After three years spending summers honing her soldering skills in the maintenance shop, she made the jump to Boston's WBUR as a newswriter in 1997. Mayer returned to NPR in 2000 after a roundabout journey that included a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a two-year stint as a producer at the Prague headquarters of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. While at Columbia, she made a three-part documentary on pirate radio in America.

The Picture Show
6:15 am
Sun October 7, 2012

Catching The 'Shadow' Of A Lost World

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Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Wedding party, 1914. A still from the film In the Land of the Head Hunters, in which Curtis sought to re-create a mythic story of the Kwakiutl.
Credit Library of Congress
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Credit Library of Congress
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Credit Library of Congress
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Credit Library of Congress
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Credit Edward Curtis / Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University
Princess Angeline, the last surviving child of Chief Seattle. Curtis took this photo in his studio in 1896, shortly before Angeline's death, at a time when it was illegal for Indians to live in the city named for her father. He paid her a dollar for the sitting.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Piegan Camp, 1900. This was the first time Curtis had seen an entire Indian community intact and vibrant. He was enthralled.
Credit Edward Curtis / Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, 1903. Curtis took this picture in his Seattle studio in the last year of Joseph's life. Joseph died, his doctor said, of a broken heart.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Before the Storm—Apache, 1906. In the arid high country of Arizona Territory, Curtis spent many months trying to capture Apache moments. Told the Apache had no religion, he was determined to prove otherwise.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Cañon de Chelly, 1904. In the heart of the Navajo Nation, where stone and sky dwarf humans on horseback, the canyon is one of the most stunning places on Earth.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
A Heavy Load—Sioux, 1908. Curtis tried to record scenes of the hard life of a winter on the northern plains.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Wedding party, 1914. A still from the film In the Land of the Head Hunters, in which Curtis sought to re-create a mythic story of the Kwakiutl.
Credit Library of Congress
13_mos-mohave2.jpg
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Mosa – Mohave, 1903. This is the picture that won over J.P. Morgan, who at first was reluctant to help Curtis with financial support.
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Credit Barry Wong / Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Timothy Egan worked for The New York Times for 18 years. He is the author of The Worst Hard Time, for which he won the National Book Award.
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Originally published on Tue October 9, 2012 1:24 pm

Photographer Edward Curtis started off his career at the tail end of the 19th century, making portraits of Seattle's wealthiest citizens. But a preoccupation with Native Americans and a chance encounter on a mountaintop triggered an idea: Curtis decided to chronicle the experience of the vanishing tribes — all of them. It was an unbelievably ambitious project that would define Curtis, his work and his legacy.

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Critics' Lists: Summer 2012
7:03 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Pack Your Bags For Six Flights Of Fantasy

Credit Harriet Russell
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Can't afford the gas to take a road trip this summer? Not willing to spend a month's rent flying somewhere that's probably overcrowded and rainy anyhow? Empty pockets forcing you to embark upon that unholy phenomenon — gulp — the staycation?

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