Native American Historical Books

[Yukina W.]

I am very interested in learing about different cultures but I am having a hard time finding any on Native Americans.

 

[Stewart]

Do you really think you will learn about this by reading fiction?

 

[Yukina W.]

You always learn when you read. I also want to have fun reading it.

 

[Gem]

House made of Dawn by N.Scott Momaday

It's a bit of a classic, not sure if it would come under historical though...thats the only one i can think of at the moment, if i think of any others i'll let you know. If you are interested in learning more then I can give you tons of links and non fiction & biography titles.

Oh and you may want to look up Jim Harrison as well - I think..

 

[nomadic myth]

Do you really think you will learn about this by reading fiction?

What do you mean?

I could see books such as The Last of the Mohicans being inadequate for learning about Native culture, but would think of tons of other fiction as being fine.

I liked The Education of Little Tree by Carter, and Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko.

Native culture has a strong element of storytelling, and I think a lot of non-fiction might miss the point. I think the best book to start with if you want to learn about Christians would be the Bible, and not an essay on Christianity.

 

[abecedarian]

I can see Stewart's point, fiction can be a nice starting place, but to get the facts, a well written nonfiction title might be better. Having said that, I can think of a couple of fiction books that might be good:
Hanta Yo-Ruth Beebe Hill, The First North Americans series by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear( they're archaologists and pretty good story tellers), and the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee novels by Tony Hillerman, are all good. I might warn you that the Hill novel has been challenged by the tribe she represented in the novel-Dakota, I believe, but I found it fascinating anyway. The O'Gears have a second series, the Anazasi Mystery series-starts with The Visitant- that is excellent..

 

[Dogmatix]

Zeke and Ned by Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) is a very good novel centered around the relationship between two Native Americans. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

 

[bren]

Louise Erdrich is a mixed Ojibwe woman who writes novels from a cross cultural perspective. Titles include The Bingo Palace and The Master Butchers' Singing Club. Great novels, they are, look her up for reviews.