2022 11 Best Books About Native Americans (Fiction & Non Fiction)

20 Best Books by Native American Authors to Read in 2022 

20 Essential Native American Books to Read Right Now | Reader's Digest

A Novel

Una Novela

There There

Ahí Ahí

Best Native American Literature - Five Books Expert Recommendations

10 Essential Native American Novels

After his service in World War II, Abel comes back to his rural hometown in New Mexico in 1945. He stays with his grandfather Francisco, a farmer, and gets to know a young white woman named Angela, who he meets through the local priest, Father Olguin. His time back home brings back a flood of memories regarding his family and his past. Angela and Abel begin an affair, taking part in various local traditions and ceremonies. However, after a particular celebration involving a bull chase and traditional rituals, Abel, in an apparently inexplicable act, murders an albino man.

Years later, Abel is released from prison and placed under an Indian Relocation program in Los Angeles. He starts working at a factory where he befriends Ben Benally who offers to share his apartment. During his stint in Los Angeles, Abel is severely beaten and left nearly dead on a beach, an incident that rekindles his memory of Milly, a social worker who spent time with him and Ben and eventually became his lover. In stark contrast to Abel's exhausting day-to-day life are the compelling sermons delivered by the Priest of the Sun, John Big Bluff Tosamah, detailing the stories of the Kiowa people.

In the later section of the story, Abel leaves for New Mexico, promising Ben to meet someday to sing the ceremonial song "House Made of Dawn." After losing his job, Abel's life spirals out of control, leading to increased alcohol dependence and aggression, and eventually a brutal fight with Ben. Abel disappears, and when he reappears three days later, he is severely beaten. Soon after, Abel returns to his hometown where he finds his grandfather on the brink of death. Following Francisco's death, Abel participates in a ceremonial race, an act symbolizing his ongoing struggle and resilience.

House Made of Dawn

Casa Hecha de Amanecer

A Memoir

Una Memoria

Heart Berries

Bayas de Corazón

Native America from 1890 to the Present

América Nativa desde 1890 hasta el Presente

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

El Latido de la Rodilla Herida

The Night Watchman

El Vigilante Nocturno

Firekeeper's Daughter

La Hija del Guardián del Fuego

Winter Counts

Cuentas de Invierno

The Lake Witch Trilogy, Book 1

La Trilogía de la Bruja del Lago, Libro 1

My Heart Is a Chainsaw

Mi Corazón es una Motosierra

Tayo, a World War II veteran, returns to his home in the Laguna Pueblo reservation, struggling with the trauma of war and haunted by the ghosts of his past. He carries the burden of believing he had mistakenly shot his Uncle Josiah, witnessing his cousin Rocky's death, and guilt over a prayer he said during the war, which he thinks caused a six-year drought in his homeland. Living with the family that raised him, he confronts their grief over Rocky's loss and his continuing mourning over Josiah's death. His childhood friends, also war veterans, cope with their trauma through alcohol, their tales of valor only emphasizing the discrimination they face. At the edge of despair, his grandmother introduces him to Ku'oosh, a medicine man who tries to heal him with a traditional ceremony intended for warriors who have killed in battle.

Ku'oosh's ceremony triggers memories of Tayo's childhood, particularly the summer before he joined the army with Rocky. That season, Josiah fell for Night Swan, a Mexican woman who influenced him to buy a herd of Mexican cattle, which Tayo helped tend to. When a drought threatened the reservation, Tayo performed an impromptu rain ceremony at a spring, and the next day it rained. Despite this, Ku'oosh realizes his ceremony isn't effective enough for Tayo and sends him to another medicine man, Betonie, who is more familiar with the issues caused by the clash of Native American and white cultures. Betonie informs Tayo that they need to create and perform a new ceremony to counter the destruction caused by the white people. 

Betonie sends Tayo back home, warning him that the ceremony isn't complete yet. On his way, he briefly falls back into his old friends' lifestyle before continuing his search for Josiah's cattle. His journey leads him to a woman named Ts'eh. He locates the cattle in a white man's pasture and is briefly arrested before being let off to hunt a mountain lion that had caught their attention. Ts'eh corrals the cattle and Tayo feels healed on bringing them back home. However, the drought continues, indicating the ceremony isn't complete. Tayo spends the summer with Ts'eh, but has to evade the police and Emo, who had been spreading rumors about him. He ends up in an abandoned uranium mine where he watches Harley being tortured to death by Emo and Pinkie. Tayo survives the night and returns to Ku'oosh, who acknowledges that the ceremony is completed and the drought ends. Tayo then goes back home.

12 Best Native American Books of All Time

There There

A Novel

House Made of Dawn

Heart Berries

A Memoir

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

Native America from 1890 to the Present

The Night Watchman

A Novel

Firekeeper's Daughter

Winter Counts

A Novel

My Heart Is a Chainsaw

The Lake Witch Trilogy, Book 1

Ceremony

The Seed Keeper

A Novel

The Removed

A Novel

The Fast Red Road

A Plainsong

Sources

What To Read Next

12 Best Native American Books of All Time

There There

A Novel

House Made of Dawn

Heart Berries

A Memoir

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

Native America from 1890 to the Present

The Night Watchman

A Novel

Firekeeper's Daughter

Winter Counts

A Novel

My Heart Is a Chainsaw

The Lake Witch Trilogy, Book 1

Ceremony

The Seed Keeper

A Novel

The Removed

A Novel

The Fast Red Road

A Plainsong

Sources

What To Read Next

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