Indigenous People's Literature

Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership by R. David Edmunds is both a biography of the titular Shawnee war chief Tecumseh and an overview of the political movement he started in the early 19th century.From roughly 1805 until his death in October 1813, Tecumseh played a pivotal role in establishing relations between the United States and Native Americans in the Old Northwest Territory (now part of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota). Along... Read Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership Summary

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a young adult novel by Sherman Alexie, published in 2007 with art by Ellen Forney. Alexie, a Spokane/Cour d’Alene Indian (a term he prefers to “Native American”), began the book as a memoir inspired by experiences he had growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, and attending the predominantly white Reardan High School in Reardan, Washington. The book received much praise and many... Read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Summary

The Back of the Turtle (2014) is a bestselling novel by Canadian American author Thomas King. King is of Cherokee Greek descent and has garnered acclaim for his novels about Indigenous Canadian experiences, including The Inconvenient Indian and Green Grass Running Water. The Back of the Turtle won King the Governor General’s literary award.The narrative follows Gabriel Quinn, a member of the First Nations community of Lethbridge, Alberta, as he returns to his family’s home... Read The Back of the Turtle Summary

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Louise Erdrich’s The Beet Queen, published in 1986, is a sequel to her award-winning debut novel, Love Medicine. The Beet Queen was followed by two other novels in the series, Tracks and The Bingo Palace. Though most of The Beet Queen’s characters are non-Indigenous, the series as a whole is concerned with issues facing Indigenous Americans, particularly those living on tribal lands in Minnesota and North Dakota. Characters and storylines are woven throughout the four... Read The Beet Queen Summary

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The Birchbark House is a 1999 juvenile novel by Louise Erdrich. The book is the first in a five-book series. It takes place in 1847 on Madeline Island, or Moningwanaykaning, meaning “Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker,” located on Lake Superior. The book follows the story of Omakayas, a young Anishinabe (Indigenous Ojibwa) girl and her family over the course of one year. While the book is presented episodically, with four different segments highlighting various cultural... Read The Birchbark House Summary

The Bone People (1984) by Keri Hulme was the first New Zealand novel to receive the Booker Prize. It also earned a number of other awards, including the 1984 New Zealand Book Award and the Pegasus Award for Maori Literature. A native of Christchurch, Hulme grew up on the South Island. She comes from a large, diverse, multicultural family of English, Scottish, and Maori descent. After finishing high school, the writer began working as a... Read The Bone People Summary

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The Game of Silence is work of middle-grade historical fiction by contemporary American author Louise Erdrich. Published in 2005, it is the second novel in Erdrich’s Birchbark House series. The first novel in this series, The Birchbark House (1999), is set in 1847 and introduces Omakayas and her family. The Birchbark House was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Award. With The Game of Silence, Erdrich continues the saga of Omakayas’s family, and this... Read The Game of Silence Summary

The Grass Dancer (1994) is the debut novel by Susan Power, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. This young adult novel is part of the magical realism genre. Using a nonlinear structure and overlapping narratives, Power slowly pieces together a story that links generations of Sioux families together in a complex and powerful way. The following material was gathered using a first edition copy of the text.Plot SummaryThe Prologue begins with Harley... Read The Grass Dancer Summary

Anthropologist David Treuer’s The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present (2019) revives Indigenous history and centers Indigenous people as subjects, not as mere victims of American avarice. It was a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction. Treuer is a member of the Ojibwe tribe from the Leech Lake Reservation in north-central Minnesota. He has a doctorate in anthropology, teaches at the University of Southern California, and is the... Read The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Summary

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America is a 2012 nonfiction book by Thomas King about the history of relations between Indigenous people and American settler colonialism. King is a novelist of Cherokee descent, and The Inconvenient Indian is his first book of nonfiction. The book was awarded the CBA Libris Award for Best Non-Fiction Book in 2013. This guide follows the first edition of the book.Content Warning: Both the... Read The Inconvenient Indian Summary

The Joys of Motherhood (1979) is a historical fiction novel by Buchi Emecheta. Set in both rural and urban Nigerian locales over several decades, the novel explores changes in the roles and status of women against the backdrop of colonialism. It follows the life of Nnu Ego, a woman whose identity and self-worth are deeply intertwined with her role as a mother.This guide is based on the 1990 George Braziller edition of the text. It... Read The Joys of Motherhood Summary

Joseph M. Marshall III, who is from the Sicangu Oglala tribe, grew up on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, who told him stories about Lakota traditions and culture. These stories transmit the virtues of Lakota culture, including humility, perseverance, respect, honor, love, sacrifice, truth, compassion, bravery, fortitude, generosity, and wisdom. He dedicates a chapter to each of these virtues, which are at the foundation of Lakota culture. The... Read The Lakota Way Summary

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