Book Recommendations: Authentic Native American History

by vaporwave710

Hi I am looking for true accounts of Native American history preferably written by indigenous people themselves but open to any suggestions of material that is widely accepted as a non white washed recollection. Thank you!

MaddestJas

My focus is on North American Indigenous history, so these recommendations will skew towards what becomes known as the United States and Canada. I have tried to only include relatively recent publications. To my knowledge, all authors included are Indigenous.

For some introductory and general reading:

Deloria, Philip J. Indians in Unexpected Places. University Press of Kansas, 2004.

Estes, Nick. Our history is the future : Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the long tradition of Indigenous resistance. New York: Verso, 2019.

Simpson, Audra. Mohawk Interruptus : Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States. Durham: Duke University Press Books, 2014.

More theoretical but still broad reading:

Barker, Joanne. Native Acts: Law, Recognition, and Cultural Authenticity. E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham [N.C.]: Duke University Press, 2011. (Funny you should mention 'authentic.')

Byrd, Jodi A. Transit of Empire: Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism. University of Minnesota Press, 2011.

Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake. As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.

Detailed and specific tribal/Indigenous histories:

Brooks, Lisa. Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.

Downey, Allan. The Creator’s Game: Lacrosse, Identity, and Indigenous Nationhood. UBC Press: 2018.

Reid, Joshua L. The Sea is My Country: The Maritime World of the Makahs. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015.

Lowery, Malinda Maynor. Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010.

Silva, Noenoe K. Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism. London: Duke University press, 2004.

Edited to fix italics.

anthropology_nerd

In addition to the works already mentioned, I'd recommend An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States and Heartbeat of Wounded Knee as two general overviews of Native American history. Both are very accessible for newbies and will give you a firm foundation for diving deeper into specific times and places of interest. If you want a great intro text book-like resource First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History provides a historical overview told through a treasure trove of primary sources. I love this resource because it teaches you to critically examine primary sources while also teaching indigenous history.

For more specific times and places, I'd also recommend Boarding School Seasons for a look at the boarding school experience in the United States. Fifth Sun is a great indigenous history of the Aztecs if you want something further south. For primary accounts of specific events, like the history of the West, I'd go with Our Hearts Fell to the Ground: Plains Indian Views of How the West Was Lost, or The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents to look at Eastern Indian removal. Both of those books are filled with primary accounts, woven together, to tell indigenous stories in their own words.

Hope this helps, and happy reading!

DGBD

You may be interested in the recent episode of the AskHistorians Podcast where I interview the authors of We Are The Land: A History of Native California. It's a phenomenal book that gives a great overview of centuries of indigenous history up until the present day.