Native American Literature
Explore the rich tapestry of Native American Literature through acclaimed works like *Ceremony* by Leslie Marmon Silko, *House Made of Dawn* by N. Scott Momaday, and *Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee*. This curated collection spans fiction, history, and memoir, featuring essential voices from Black Elk, Louise Erdrich, and more. Discover powerful stories of identity, resilience, and cultural heritage in this definitive reading list of American and Native authors.
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This Is Not Civilization
by Robert Rosenberg
In the tradition of Prague and White Teeth, This Is Not Civilization is an inspired, sweeping debut novel that hopscotches from Arizona to Central Asia to Istanbul with a well-meaning, if misguided, young Peace Corps volunteer. Jeff Hartig lies at the center of this modern take on the American-abroad tale, which brings together four people from vastly different backgrounds, each struggling with the push and pull of home. A young Apache, Adam Dale, forsakes the reservation for the promise of a world he knows little about. Anarbek Tashtanaliev, of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, operates a cheese factory that no longer produces cheese. Nazira, his daughter, strains against the confines of their village's age-old traditions. With captivating insight, realism, and humor, Robert Rosenberg delivers a sensitive story about the cost of trying to do good in the world.
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The Beet Queen
by Louise Erdrich
In the early 1930s, Karl and his sister Mary Adare, arrive by boxcar in Argus, a small off-reservation town in North Dakota. Orphaned, they look to their mother's sister Fritzie and her husband for refuge.
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The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint
by Brady Udall
Half Apache and orphaned, Edgar's trials begin on an Arizona reservation at the age of seven when he is run over by the mailman's jeep, after which he is taken from the hospital to a school for delinquents to a Mormon foster family, and eventually to an unexpected home on a quest for the mailman. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 75,000 first printing.
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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
by Dee Brown
Documents and personal narratives record the experiences of Native Americans during the nineteenth century.
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Black Elk Speaks
by Black Elk
Reveals the life of Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk as he led his tribe's battle against white settlers who threatened their homes and buffalo herds, and describes the victories and tragedies at Little Bighorn and Wounded Knee.
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Ceremony
by Leslie Marmon Silko
One Navajo family, on a New Mexico reservation, struggles to survive in a world no longer theirs in the years just before and after World War II.
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House Made of Dawn
by N. Scott Momaday
A young American Indian returning from World War II searches for his place on his old reservation and in urban society.
