November is Native American Heritage Month, and we’ve compiled a list of books that share the stories and experiences of the Native American community. Add one or more to your reading list – all are available for checkout at Meyer Library.

Book Recommendations

“Braiding Sweetgrass,” by Robin Wall Kimmerer

With a background in botany, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In “Braiding Sweetgrass,” Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. 

“Give Me Some Truth,” by Eric Gansworth 

In “Give Me Some Truth,” award-winning author Eric Gansworth shares the story of a high school senior desperate to make his mark, on and off the reservation.  

“Indigenous Continent,” by Pekka Hämäläinen 

In this national bestseller, acclaimed historian Pekka Hämäläinen presents a sweeping counternarrative that shatters the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth Rock and other well-trodden episodes on the conventional timeline, he depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals. 

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” by David Grann 

New York Times best-selling author David Grann shares a story about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history. This twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery follows a series of crimes in which members of the Osage Indian nation were killed in cold blood. 

“My Good Man,” by Eric Gansworth 

In “My Good Man,” Eric Gansworth provides a coming-of-age story from the perspective of a 20-something Indigenous reporter that must pick up the threads of a life that he’s abandoned. The narrative takes us through Brian’s childhood and slice-of-life stories on the reservation — all written in Gansworth’s signature blend of crystal–sharp, heartfelt literary realist prose.