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The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

By David Treuer

2019 · Riverhead Books · 528pp

Native America From 1890 to the Present

In The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, Treuer melds history with reportage and memoir. Tracing the tribes' distinctive cultures from first contact, he explores how the depredations of each era spawned new modes of survival. The devastating seizures of land gave rise to increasingly sophisticated legal and political maneuvering that put the lie to the myth that Indians don't know or care about property. The forced assimilation of their children at government-run boarding schools incubated a unifying Native identity. Conscription in the US military and the pull of urban life brought Indians into the mainstream and modern times, even as it steered the emerging shape of self-rule and spawned a new generation of resistance. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is the essential, intimate story of a resilient people in a transformative era.

David Treuer is Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. The author of four previous novels, most recently Prudence, and two books of nonfiction, he has also written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Slate, and The Washington Post, among others. He has a Ph.D. in anthropology and teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California.

The Overstory

By Richard Powers

2018 · Novel · W.W. Norton & Company · 512pp

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

The Overstory by Richard Powers

The Overstory is a novel by Richard Powers published in 2018 by W.W. Norton. It is Powers's twelfth novel. The novel is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests.

There, There

There, There by Tommy Orange

by Tommy Orange

2018 · Novel/Political Fiction · Alfred A. Knopf · 304pp

There There is a wondrous and shattering portrait of an America few of us have ever seen. It’s “masterful . . . white-hot . . . devastating” (The Washington Post) at the same time as it is fierce, funny, suspenseful, thoroughly modern, and impossible to put down. Here is a voice we have never heard—a voice full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with urgency and force. Tommy Orange has written a stunning novel that grapples with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and profound spirituality, and with a plague of addiction, abuse, and suicide. This is the book that everyone is talking about right now, and it’s destined to be a classic.

White Rage

White Rage

By Carol Anderson

2017 · Bloomsbury Publishing · 267pp

The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide is a 2016 nonfiction book by Emory University professor Carol Anderson. She had been contracted to write the book following reaction to an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in 2014.

Carefully linking historical flashpoints when social progress for African Americans was countered by deliberate and cleverly crafted opposition, Anderson pulls back the veil that has long covered actions made in the name of protecting democracy, fiscal responsibility, or protection against fraud, rendering visible the long lineage of white rage. Compelling and dramatic in the unimpeachable history it relates, White Rage will add an important new dimension to the national conversation about race in America.

We Are Still Here

We Are Still Here

By Peter Iverson, Wade Davies

2014 · History/Native Americans · Wiley · 368pp

American Indians Since 1890

In addition to revisions and updates, the second edition of “We Are Still Here” features new material, seeing this well-loved American History Series volume maintain its treatment of American Indians in the 20th century while extending its coverage into the opening decades of the 21st century.

Provides student and general readers concise and engaging coverage of contemporary history of American Indians contributed by top scholars and instructors in the field Represents an ideal supplement to any U.S. or Native American survey text Includes a completely up-to-date synthesis of the most current literature in the field Features a comprehensive Bibliographical Essay that serves to aid student research and writing Covers American Indian history from 1890 through 2013.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask

Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask

By Anton Treuer

2012 · History/Native Americans · Minnesota Historical Society Press · 190pp

What have you always wanted to know about Indians? Do you think you should already know the answers -- or suspect that your questions may be offensive? In matter-of-fact responses to over 120 questions, both thoughtful and outrageous, modern and historical, Ojibwe scholar and cultural preservationist Anton Treuer gives a frank, funny, and sometimes personal tour of what's up with Indians, anyway.

Anton Treuer is an American academic and author specializing in the Ojibwe language and American Indian studies. He is professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, Minnesota and a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow.

Lines from a Mined Mind: The Words of John Trudell

By John Trudell

2008 · Poetry/Songs · Fulcrum Pub · 280pp

A collection of 25 years of poetry, lyrics and essays.

Lines from a Mined Mind by John Trudell

John Trudell is an acclaimed poet, national recording artist, actor, and activist whose international following reflects the universal language of his words, work, and message. Trudell (Santee Sioux) was a spokesperson for the Indian of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971. He then worked with the American Indian Movement, serving as chairman from 1973 to 1979.

Kill the Indian, Save the Man

Kill the Indian, Save the Man

by Ward Churchill

2004 · City Lights Books · 128pp

The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools

For five consecutive generations, from roughly 1880 to 1980, Native American children in the United States and Canada were forcibly taken from their families and relocated to residential schools. The stated goal of this government program was to "kill the Indian to save the man." Half of the children did not survive the experience, and those who did were left permanently scarred. The resulting alcoholism, suicide, and the transmission of trauma to their own children has led to a social disintegration with results that can only be described as genocidal.

Struggle for the Land

By Ward Churchill

2002 · City Lights Books · 460pp

Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Colonization

Struggle for the Land

Struggle for the Land: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Colonization is a book by Ward Churchill. It is a collection of essays on the efforts of Native Americans in the United States and in Canada to maintain their land tenure claims against government and corporate infringement. Equating colonization with genocide and ecocide, the author provides examples of resistance.

Beginning with an overview of the impact of legal doctrines established by the United States and Canada on Native people, and moving on to explore a series of case studies indicative of the effects of domination "by North America's settler-states," the book concludes with a discussion paper offering a scenario for an alternate future.

Chronology of American Indian History: The Trail of the Wind

by Liz Sonneborn

2001 · Facts On File · 442pp

A year-by-year chronicle of interesting and important moments in Indian history, including major wars and battles, federal Indian policies and reactions to them, legal rulings, individual achievements, protests, migrations, religious movements, and other topics. Each event mentioned is followed by a one to two paragraph elaboration. Sidebar quotations throughout the volume offer insight into people's thoughts and perceptions of important events described.

https://archive.org/details/chronologyofamer0000sonn

A Forest of Time: American Indian Ways of History

by Peter Nabokov

2002 · Cambridge University Press · 246pp

A study of the many different ways Native American groups have defined their histories for their own purposes. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Some dynamics of American Indian historicity -- Within reach of memory: oral traditions, legends, and history -- Almost timeless truths: myth and history -- Commentaries and subversions: memorates, jokes, tales, and history -- Anchoring the past in place: geography and history -- Memories in things: material culture and Indian histories -- Renewing, remembering, and resisting: rituals and history -- Old stories, new ways: writing, power, and Indian histories -- Futures of Indian pasts: prophecy and history

Stickman: Poems, Lyrics, Talks

Stickman by John Trudell

by John Trudell Edited by Paola Igliori

1994 · New York: Inanout Press · 168pp

John Trudell became involved in Native American activism and was a spokesman for American Indian protesters during their 1969 occupation of Alcatraz Island and served as national chairman of the American Indian Movement from 1973 to 1979. He was a prolific poet, who combined spoken words and music on more than a dozen albums. He also acted in several movies including Thunderheart and Smoke Signals. There was a 2005 documentary about him called Trudell. In 2012, Trudell and singer Willie Nelson co-founded Hempstead Project Heart, which advocates for legalizing the growing of hemp for industrial purposes as a more environmentally sound alternative to crops used for clothing, biofuel and food. He died of cancer on December 8, 2015 at the age of 69.

Mankiller: A Chief and Her People

1993 · History · St. Martin's Press · 356pp

The story of the Cherokee Nation is told by Wilma Mankiller, who recounts her life and the racism she faced in her fight to lead it. Wilma Mankiller has been the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation since 1985. She tells her personal story (her political awakening came during the 1970 occupation of Alcatraz island), interwoven with the complex history of the Cherokee Nation.

500 Years of Indigenous Resistance

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1992 by Anonymous, The Anarchist Library

2002 by Gord Hill

An alternative and unorthodox view of the colonization of the Americas by Europeans is offered in this concise history. Eurocentric studies of the conquest of the Americas present colonization as a civilizing force for good, and the native populations as primitive or worse. Colonization is seen as a mutually beneficial process, in which "civilization” was brought to the natives who in return shared their land and cultures. The opposing historical camp views colonization as a form of genocide in which the native populations were passive victims overwhelmed by European military power. In this fresh examination, an activist and historian of native descent argues that the colonial powers met resistance from the indigenous inhabitants and that these confrontations shaped the forms and extent of colonialism. This account encompasses North and South America, the development of nation-states, and the resurgence of indigenous resistance in the post-World War II era.

Living in Reality: Songs Called Poems

Living in Reality by John Trudell

by John Trudell

1982 · Society of the People Struggling to be Free · 71pp

Water for Life Poettree Publishings, Society of the People Struggling to be Free, 1982. Jan Attridge, illustrator. Most likely a later edition, printed by Common Weath Printing. Near Fine in wrappers.

The first book by this Sioux poet/activist, who was a founder and National Chairman of the radical American Indian Movement during the 1970s; a turbulent time of Native American political activism. Trudell became the spokesman for the Indians of All Tribes who occupied Alcatraz Island, which led to the founding of AIM. He was the Chair of AIM during the Wounded Knee siege and the Pine Ridge battle that left two FBI agents and one Indian youth dead and resulted in Leonard Peltier's conviction and incarceration for murder. Trudell's own family, his wife and three children, were killed in a fire set by an arsonist, which Trudell has long considered to have been an attempt to strike back at him for his radical activism and militancy, including his advocacy of the use of violence in pursuing claims of Native rights. He appeared in the documentary film about Peltier, Incident at Oglala, and was later cast as a charismatic Indian leader in the fictionalized film version of that story, Thunderheart. He is a musician as well as a poet and is also known as an eloquent speaker, both as a political leader and, more recently, as a guest lecturer.

The Ohlone Way

The Ohlone Way by Malcolm Margolin

by Malcolm Margolin

1978 · Heyday Books · 182pp

Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area

Two hundred years ago, herds of elk and antelope dotted the hills of the San Francisco-Monterey Bay area. Grizzly bears lumbered down to the creeks to fish for silver salmon and steelhead trout. From vast marshlands geese, ducks, and other birds rose in thick clouds "with a sound like that of a hurricane." This land of "inexpressible fertility," as one early explorer described it, supported one of the densest Indian populations in all of North America.

Custer Died for Your Sins; an Indian Manifesto

Custer Died For Your Sins

Vine Deloria Jr. 1969 Macmillan

Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, is a 1969, non-fiction book by the lawyer, professor and writer Vine Deloria, Jr. The book was noteworthy for its relevance to the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement and other activist organizations, such as the American Indian Movement, which was beginning to expand.

Fifty-years years ago Vine Deloria, Jr., an enrolled citizen of the Standing Rock Lakota Nation, published Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. For 1969 mainstream America the title was an attention-grabbing, blasphemous play on the well-known and oft-used Jesus-died-for-your-sins. Deloria took the phrase from a bumper sticker of the same name that he had helped create and said it referred to the bad faith the U.S. demonstrated in failing to fulfill the provisions of the Sioux Treaty of 1868. He explained, “Under the covenants of the Old Testament, breaking a covenant called for a blood sacrifice for atonement. Custer was the blood sacrifice for the United States breaking the Sioux treaty.”

The title was an apt label for a work that excoriated the actions, white-washed history, and on-going racism of the times. Unfortunately, fifty years on, while some of the references and observations are clearly dated, the basic hard truths and embedded injustices continue to underpin today’s Native reality.

See also:

The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indians

by Ralph K. Andrist

1969 · Collier Books · 420pp

"A vividly, swiftly paced account of the Plains Indian Wars, and the disposession of the Plains Indians in the half century after 1840" —The New York Times Book Review

https://archive.org/details/longdeath00ralp

House Made of Dawn

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by N. Scott Mamaday

1968 · Novel/Historical Fiction ·

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

House Made of Dawn is a 1968 novel by N. Scott Momaday, widely credited as leading the way for the breakthrough of Native American literature into the mainstream. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and has also been noted for its significance in Native American anthropology.

@siznax