Anthropologists, looking at the traditional practices of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic from a western perspective, have often presented them as rigid and unchanging. Presenting a decade of ethnographic research on the Eastern Aleut of the western Alaska Peninsula and Eastern Aleutian Islands, Katherine Reedy-Maschner shows that "traditional" can denote many things and can expand to include full participation in a modern, commercial fishing economy as well as participation in the global politics of the volatile fishing industry.

The first Aleut ethnography in over three decades, Aleut Identities provides a contemporary view of indigenous Alaskans and is the first major work to emphasize the importance of commercial labour and economies to maintain traditional means of survival. Examining the ways in which social relations and the status formation are affected by environmental concerns, government policies, and market forces, the author highlights how communities have responded to worldwide pressures. An informative work that challenges conventional notions of "traditional," Aleut Identities demonstrates possible methods by which Indigenous communities can maintain and adapt their identity in the face of unrelenting change.