Winter Reading Suggestions -- Indigenous

 

Although the total numbers of titles published is smaller, there is as much variety in Native American books as there is in the book world at large. Today we’ll peek at a few offerings in the new book section of my store (used books, our original mission in 1993, still predominate Dog Ears Books inventory), titles that are definitely on my must-read list for 2024.

 

From National Book Award winner Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) comes The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History (Yale University Press, 2023). Blackhawk offers a synthesis of Native and non-Native histories of our country, from early Spanish explorers in the 1600s to the late 20^th century. The first 445 pages are text, followed by extensive notes and the all-important (to any book of history) index of names and subjects. 

 

History is not only for adults, however, and Traci Sorell (Cherokee) and Frané Lessac, illustrator, creators of the 2018 We Are Grateful, subsequently put Native American history into an attractive children's picture book, We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know (Charlesbridge, 2021), with twelve young people giving presentations to other students and their parents at Indigenous People’s Day. Each two-page spread highlights an important concept in a history that is still ongoing, emphasized by the repeated “We are still here!” at the end of every topic. The book is designed for children 7-10 of age, but many parents and teachers will learn from it, also.

 

A 50th anniversary edition of God Is Red: A Native View of Religion (Fulcrum Publishing, 2023; orig. pub. Putnam, 1973), by Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), with introduction by Philip J. Deloria, includes critical essays by Philip J. Deloria, Suzan Shown Harjo, Daniel Wildcat, and David E. Wilkins. The author was named by Time magazine as one of the greatest religious thinkers of the 20^th century. Why was I not introduced to this book when studying religion at the university level, why did I continue to be ignorant of its existence for so long after? If you need further motivation to read the book, here is an interview with Philip Deloria by Foreword magazine reviewer Kristen Rabe.

 

Survival Food: North Woods Stories by a Menominee Cook (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2023) is a second memoir from Thomas Pecore Weso (Menominee), whose first was Good Seeds: A Menominee Indian Food Memoir. The book comprises essays that combine memory and food, from those hunted, fished, and gathered to commodity foods distributed by the government – all of it “survival food.” Wild rice, maple syrup, and twice-baked cheesy potatoes are all here. And stories!

 

From memoir to poetry, we come to Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First People’s Poetry (Norton, 2021), collected and introduced by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation, also known as Creek). Harjo was the 23^rd U.S. Poet Laureate and gathered the contemporary Native voices in this book together in the form of a map. Open this book anywhere. I’m not kidding. 

 

A novel for young people, Eagle Drums (Roaring Brook Press, 2023), is by Nasugraq Rainey Hopson (Inupiaq). Angeline Boulley (and you read her Firekeeper’s Daughter, didn’t you?) says that Hopson, who also illustrated her story, “has accomplished something truly monumental” with this book. I’m happy to report that she also says it is for “readers of all ages,” although the target audience is middle grades. More than a young man’s vision quest, Eagle Drums is a retelling of a creation myth. Kidnapped by golden eagles, the protagonist must learn lessons (where his two older brothers failed) in making drums, singing and dancing and writing his own songs, building large sod gathering halls, and bringing small, isolated groups together to form a community and a people.

 

*****

 

I will stop here today with these six titles, only because I have a lot of reading to catch up on, only adding only a quick reminder that Bonnie Jo Campbell’s long-anticipated new novel, The Waters, is also now on sale at Dog Ears Books.