I didn’t do any reading this month (unless you count the election results) so instead of my usual monthly book review, I’m sharing the best books I’ve read about the Native American experience to honor Native American Heritage Month.

Nonfiction

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

A stark account of the mistreatment of Native Americans throughout American history, from colonial days to the present. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. Review

1491 by Charles Mann

A fascinating exploration of what archaeologists and anthropologists have learned about Native American cultures prior to European contact.

Surviving Wounded Knee by David Grua

In December 1890, the US Army massacred hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. This book is the tale of the Lakota fight to have their side of the story told and their dead memorialized. On a larger scale, it’s the story of how unwilling the United States is to reckon with its history of Native American conquest.

A Misplaced Massacre by Ari Kelman

This account follows the efforts to pinpoint the exact location of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and the contentious planning of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. Like Surviving Wounded Knee, it also grapples with the US history of violence against Native Americans and the unwillingness of American government and society to recognize the magnitude of that violence.

Fiction

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

When his mother is raped, teenager Joe Coutts takes it into his own hands to find the perpetrator and extract justice. Set on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota, the book is part of Erdrich’s Justice trilogy.

Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse

The first two books in Roanhorse’s Sixth World series, Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts were two of the best books I read last year. (Review) The series is set in a post-climate-apocalypse world, where Maggie Hoskin now works as a monster hunter. What sets these books apart is their rich Diné (Navajo) setting. The stories are enjoyable lessons in Diné culture, and I devoured one right after the other.