List
Delve into Native and Indigenous Communities, Cultures, and Histories
Broaden your knowledge about various tribes and the unique challenges Native and Indigenous communities face with these nonfiction titles.
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The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
2023 by Blackhawk, NedGet this itemA sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. Suggested by Chris.
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Dancing for Our Tribe: Potawatomi Tradition in the New Millennium
2022 by Hoogstraten, SharonGet this itemWith stunning photographs, engrossing text, and meticulous scholarship, you'll pore over this book and come back to it more than once. Suggested by Sharon.
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The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans
2023 by Smith, Jaune Quick-to-SeeGet this itemA poem by Joy Harjo opens this coffee table-ready book created to accompany the National Gallery's landmark 2022 exhibition of pieces by living Native American artists using many different media. With statements by each of the 50 artists whose work appears. Suggested by Andrew.
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By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-long Fight for Justice on Native Land
2024 by Nagle, RebeccaGet this itemThe story of the Native Americans from the "Five Civilized Tribes" who were forcibly relocated to present-day Oklahoma beginning in the 1830s is also the story of the author's own Cherokee family. She draws a line from those events to Sharp v. Murphy, the 2020 Supreme Court decision that seemed to open the door to a new era of tribal sovereignty in Oklahoma and beyond. Suggested by Andrew.
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Thunder Song: Essays
2024 by LaPointe, Sasha taqwšebluGet this itemMusic plays a crucial role in these pieces by the author of Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk. A beautifully written, powerful, and sensitive collection of essays that we can’t recommend enough. The author reflects on several interweaving topics, including her Indigenous identity, colonialism, traditional practices, family, two-spirit people, activism, healing, and more. Suggested by Sharon and Andrew.
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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
2020 by Kimmerer, Robin WallGet this itemDrawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrates how all living things―from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen―provide us with gifts and lessons every day. Suggested by Amber.
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Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
2023 by Treuer, AntonGet this itemOjibwe author Treuer revises and expands a book first published in 2012, seeking to answer questions both concrete and fundamental. Suggested by Andrew.
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Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America
2023 by Wilbur, MatikaGet this itemWilbur spent years photographing and interviewing hundreds of people from each of the federally recognized Native American tribes. "This book is too important to miss. It is a vast, sprawling look at who we are as indigenous people in these United States" (Tommy Orange). Suggested by Andrew.
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Poet Warrior: A Memoir
2021 by Harjo, JoyGet this itemIn the second memoir from the first Native American to serve as U.S. poet laureate, Joy Harjo invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her “poet-warrior” road. A musical, kaleidoscopic meditation, this book reveals how Harjo came to write poetry of compassion and healing, poetry with the power to unearth the truth and demand justice. Suggested by Amber.
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Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction
2020Get this itemIn this groundbreaking and Lambda-Award-winning anthology, a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer) Indigenous writers from across Turtle Island draw from history and their own personal truths to create their own queer visions of Indigenous futures.
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When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry
2020Get this itemSpanning 161 Native American writers and representing more than 90 indigenous nations, this anthology contains some of the most beautiful poetry you could come across. Although this collection focuses mostly on 20th century Native American poetry, every line is packed with the long-standing tradition of our nation's first poets.
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Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry
2021Get this itemThis special and rich poetry anthology takes its title from an interactive online map of current Native poets, a project undertaken by U.S. Poet Laureate and Native American poet Joy Harjo. Each poem is "based on the theme of place and displacement, and with four touchpoints in mind: visibility, persistence, resistance, and acknowledgment," as mentioned in the book's introduction.
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New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian
2021 by Bitsoie, FreddieGet this itemAs befits a former executive chef at the National Museum of the American Indian's renowned Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe, Freddie Bitsoie is attuned to both hyperlocality and the extraordinary vitality of Native American foodways in the 21st century. A "Native American pantry" introduces the reader to flavors ranging from acorn meal to zephyr squash. Suggested by Andrew.
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