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Books by Indigenous, Native American, and First Nation authors
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There There by Tommy OrangeA novel that grapples with the complex history and identity of Native Americans follows twelve characters, each of whom has private reasons for traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow.
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Empire of Wild : A Novel by Cherie DimalineA story inspired by the Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou finds a woman reconnecting with her heritage when her missing husband reappears in the form of a charismatic preacher who does not recognize her.
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The Round House by Louise ErdrichWhen his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist living on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, 14-year-old Joe Coutz sets out with his three friends to find the person that destroyed his family.
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The Night Watchman : A Novel by Louise ErdrichTraces the experiences of a Chippewa Council night watchman in mid-nineteenth-century rural North Dakota who fights Congress to enforce Native American treaty rights, as well as a young woman desperate to leave her reservation for the big city of Minneapolis.
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LaRose by Louise ErdrichHorrified when he accidentally kills his best friend's 5-year-old son while hunting, Landreaux Iron gives away his own young son to his friend's family according to ancient tradition, a decision that helps both families reach a tenuous peace that is threatened by a vengeful adversary. By the National Book Award-winning author of The Round House.
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The Only Good Indians : A Novel by Stephen Graham JonesFour American Indian men, who shared a disturbing event during their youth, are hunted down years later by an entity bent on revenge that forces them to revisit the culture and traditions they left behind.
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Surviving the City by Tasha SpillettIndigenous teens Miikwan and Dez are best friends that navigate living in the city together, but when Dez's grandmother gets sick, Dez runs away instead of going to a group home, leaving Miikwan and the community to try and find her.
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Sacred Smokes : Stories by Theodore C. Van Alst"Growing up in a gang in the city can be dark. Growing up Native American in a gang in Chicago is a whole different story. This book takes a trip through that unexplored part of Indian Country, an intense journey that is full of surprises, shining a light on the interior lives of people whose intellectual and emotional concerns are often overlooked. This dark, compelling, occasionally inappropriate, and often hilarious linked story collection introduces a character who defies all stereotypes about urban life and Indians. He will be in readers' heads for a long time to come"
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House Made of Dawn by N. Scott MomadayA young Native American returning from World War II searches for his place on his old reservation and in urban society
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Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson"With his single mother in jail, Sequoyah, a fifteen-year-old Cherokee boy, is placed in foster care with the Troutt family. Literally and figuratively scarred by his unstable upbringing, Sequoyah has spent years mostly keeping to himself, living with his emotions pressed deep below the surface--that is, until he meets the seventeen-year-old Rosemary, another youth staying with the Troutts"--Provided by publisher
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Winter Counts : A Novel by David Heska Wanbli WeidenA vigilante enforcer on South Dakota's Rosebud Indian Reservation enlists the help of an ex to investigate the activities of an expanding drug cartel, while a new tribal council initiative raises controversial questions. A first novel. 75,000 first printing.
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Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererExplains how developing a wider ecological consciousness can foster an increased understanding of both nature's generosity and the reciprocal relationship humans have with the natural world.
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The Way We Lived : California Indian Stories, Songs & Reminiscences Edited by Malcolm MargolinHere, in their own words, indigenous voices reclaim the narrative of California Indians. Before contact, California's Native people comprised five hundred independent tribal groups whose cultural and linguistic multiplicity expressed a sense of incalculable human richness. Reflecting that diversity, this collection of personal histories, songs, chants, and stories draws together a range of experiences from throughout the state and across generations to reveal the continuous Native presence in what is now called the Golden State.
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Tawâw : Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane M. Chartrand"Welcome, there is room." Indigenous cuisine, like other aspects of Indigenous cultures, is now reawakening with a fresh vitality and creative energy unlike anything we've seen in decades. With Tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine, acclaimed chef Shane Chartrand hopes to ignite the imagination of a new generation of culinary talent who will create a more inclusive understanding of what it means to cook, eat, and share food in our homes, in our communities, and in our restaurants.
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An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-OrtizTold from the point of view of Native Americans, challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how the policies against the indigenous peoples was genocidal and imperialist.
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Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine DeloriaIn his new preface to this paperback edition, the author observes, "The Indian world has changed so substantially since the first publication of this book that some things contained in it seem new again." Indeed, it seems that each generation of whites and Indians will have to read and reread Vine Deloria’s Manifesto for some time to come, before we absorb his special, ironic Indian point of view and what he tells us, with a great deal of humor, about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists. This book continues to be required reading for all Americans, whatever their special interest.
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I Will See You Again by Lisa Boivin When the author learns of the death of her brother overseas, she embarks on a journey to bring him home. Through memories and dreams of all they shared together and through her Dene traditions, she finds comfort and strength. The lyrical art and story leave readers with a universal message of hope and love.
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Heart Berries : A Memoir by Terese Marie MailhotThe author recounts her coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest where she survived a dysfunctional childhood and found herself hospitalized with a dual diagnosis of PTSD and bipolar II disorder.
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Bad Indians : A Tribal Memoir by Deborah A. MirandaThis book, part tribal history, part lyric and intimate memoir, teaches us about California Indian history, past and present. In it, the author tells stories of her Ohlone Costanoan Esselen family as well as the experience of California Indians as a whole through oral histories, newspaper clippings, anthropological recordings, personal reflections, and poems.
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Mankiller : A Chief and Her People by Wilma Pearl MankillerIn this spiritual, moving autobiography, Wilma Mankiller, former Chief of the Cherokee Nation and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, tells of her own history while also honoring and recounting the history of the Cherokees.
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Postcolonial Love Poem : Poems by Natalie DiazPostcolonial Love Poem is an anthem of desire against erasure. Natalie Diaz's brilliant second collection demands that every body carried in its pages—bodies of language, land, rivers, suffering brothers, enemies, and lovers—be touched and held as beloveds. Through these poems, the wounds inflicted by America onto an indigenous people are allowed to bloom pleasure and tenderness.
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Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers : Poems by Jake Skeets"An amazing debut collection from Diné poet Jake Skeets that explores his experience and that of Native peoples with the American Southwest. Skeets's ability to use form and innovate with structure amplify his innate talent for constructing language that is simultaneously lush and razor sharp. Grappling with alcoholism, queer sexuality, and toxic masculinity, his poems confront and challenge; but through its swirl of violence and beauty, Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers is always vividly gorgeous." ―Caleb Masters, Bookmarks
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When the Light of the World was Subdued, our Songs Came Through : A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry by Joy Harjo"United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo gathers the work of more than 160 poets, representing nearly 100 indigenous nations, into the first historically comprehensive Native poetry anthology. This landmark anthology celebrates the indigenous peoples of North America, the first poets of this country, whose literary traditions stretch back centuries. Opening with a blessing from Pulitzer Prize-winner N. Scott Momaday, the book contains powerful introductions from contributing editors who represent the five geographically organized sections. Each section begins with a poem from traditional oral literatures and closes with emerging poets, ranging from Eleazar, a seventeenth-century Native student at Harvard, to Jake Skeets, a young Diné poet born in 1991, and including renowned writers such as Luci Tapahanso, Natalie Diaz, Layli Long Soldier, and Ray Young Bear. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through offers the extraordinary sweep of Native literature, without which no study of American poetry is complete"
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Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI by David GrannPresents a true account of the early 20th-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Reprint. A New York Times best-seller and National Book Award finalist.
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The Ohlone way : Indian life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay area
by Malcolm Margolin
Describes the culture of Native American inhabitants in the California Bay Area prior to the arrival of Europeans, offering insight into the daily lives, culture and rituals of the Ohlone while tracing their experiences under Spanish, Mexican and American regimes. By the author of The Way We Lived.
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