Books by and About Indigenous People

This list was compiled by Sandy Pouncey, AAIA Student Advisor. These books listed will give you a clearer idea of Cherokee history, the people, and Cherokee ways.

Cherokee Books

• A Sorrow in Our Heart. The life of Tecumsah by Allan W. Eckert. Tecumsah was a Shawnee leader and orator that almost succeeded in uniting all North American tribes into one people.
• Beginning Cherokee. Learn the Cherokee language, by Ruth Bradley Holmes and Betty Sharp Smith.
• Cherokee Women. Excellent book about women in Cherokee culture by Theda Perdue.
• Indian Doctor. Booklet on nature's method of curing and preventing disease according to the indians.
• History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee. James Mooney's account of his time with the Cherokee.
• How to Make Cherokee Clothing. Very explicit book on Cherokee clothing by Donald Sizemore.
• Mankiller, The Chief of Her People. Autobiography of the Princial Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller.
• Medicine of the Cherokee. The way of right relationships by J.T. and Michael Garrett.
• Rolling Thunder Speaks a Message for Turtle Island. A message for all the people from Rolling Thunder, the founding GrandFather of the Free Cherokee's teacher.
• Sprinting Backwards to God. A wonderful story about the Trickster Spirit, Coyote, from the founding GrandFather Chief, Duncan Sings-Alone of the Free Cherokee.
• The Education of Little Tree. An 8-year-old Cherokee boy is educated by his grandparents in the foothills of North Carolina. This book would be considered "Young Adult", but all readers can benefit.
• The Cherokee Full Circle. A practical guide to ceremonies and traditions by J.T. Garrett and Michael Tlanusta Garrett.
• The Painted Drum. This is a novel by Louise Erdrich that gives authentic information from the Ojibwe, on the sacred drum that is a part of every tribal nation.
• Trail of Tears. The rise and fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle.
• Voices of Our Ancestors. Cherokee teaching from the wisdom fire by Dhyani Ywahoo.

This Lakota list was compiled by RE-MEMBER's Executive Director Keith Titus. These books listed will give you a clearer idea of Lakota history, the people, and Lakota ways.

Lakota Books

• Black Elk Speaks. Excellent book by the most famous Lakota Holy Man, as transcribed by John Neihardt. We eact at this great granddaughter's restaurant each week; he dictated the book where Bette"s Kitchen is located.
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. For decades it was THE definitive book about the Lakota and the Western Indian tribes.
• Crazy Horse and Custer. Excellent book about both.
• Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. Is an excellent introduction to Indian Spirituality by the late Vine Deloria.
• Fools Crow. Author, Thomas E. Mails. The life of one of the Holy Men of the Oglala Lakota; a good friend and contemporary of Mathew King.
• Gift of Power. Good book about a fascinating Lakota Holy Man. Archie died in 2000.
• God is Red. Is another excellent introduction to Indian Spirituality by Vine Deloria.
• In The Sacred Manner. By Mark St. Pierre; with his wife, Tilda Long Soldier is about Lakota women, relating to spirituality and healing.
• In the Spirit of Crazy Horse.
• Madonna Swan. By Mark St. Pierre, about an exceptional Lokota woman.
• Meditations With the Lakota. Prayers, songs and stories of healing and harmony by Paul Steinmetz.
• Neither Wolf Nor Dog. Everything you ever wanted to know about how Indians feel about mainstream America by Kent Nerburn.
• Nobel Red Man. Focuses on the wisdom of Mathew King, a Lokota Holy man who died in 1989. By Harvey Arden.
• Of Uncommon Birth. By Mark St. Pierre, tells the story of two South Dakota soldiers during the Vietnam War; one Lakota, one white.
• On The Rez. A very recent book about Pine Ridge Reservation by Ian Frazier.
• The Earth Shall Weep. Excellent history of the North American Indigenous people by James Wilson.
• The Moon of Popping Trees. One of the many accounts of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. Every account has a slightly different "take".
• The Sacred Pipe. Black Elk's account of the seven rites of the Oglala Lakota, by Joseph Epes Brown.
• The Wisdom Keepers. Contains the wisdom of indigenous elders, which is being lost with each passing year. By Harvey Arden & Steve Wall.
• Travels In a Stone Canoe. Contains the wisdom of indigenous elders, which is being lost with each passing year. By Harvey Arden & Steve Wall.
• Wisdom's Daughters. By Steve Wall and feathures conversations with Native American women elders.
• Wounded Knee II. It's a help to understand what happened in 1973. The dynamics are still evident on the reservation today. Caution thought: its is NOT even-handed.

Children's Books

• A Boy Called Slow. The story about Sitting Bull by Joseph Bruchac.
• Baby Rattlesnake. By Te Alta and Lynn Moroney, Children's Book Press.
• Brother Eagles, Sister Sky. About Chieft Seattle, by Susan Jeffers, Dial Books.
• Buffalo Dreams. By Kim Doner, West Winds Press.
• Dancing Teepees. By Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, Holiday House.
• Otokahekagapi. The Lakota Creation Story, by Thomas E. Simms, Tipi Press.
• Remaking the Earth. Recommended for grades 2-4, by Paul Goble.
• Sitting Bull. Recommended for grades 4-6, by Susan Bivin Aller, Barnes & Noble Books.
• Stories of the Sioux. Recommended for grades 5-7, by Luther Standing Bear.
• Ten Little Rabbits. Celebrates Native American traditions while teaching children to count, by Virginia Grossman and Sylvis Long, Chronicle Books.
• The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses. By Paul Goble, Aladdin Paperbacks.