Books about indigenous culture, religion and history. These are definitely worth checking out, for natives and non-natives. This will be an ongoing list, because I am always sniffing out new books and I read a lot.

If You Only Read a Few, Read These

• Do All Indians Live in Tipis? Questions and Answers from the National Museum of the American Indian by the Smithsonian
• An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
• Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder by Kent Nerburn
• Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria Jr.

Generally Awesome-Religion, Culture and History of Indigenous Peoples

(Not specific to any one tribe)

• 100 Native Americans Who Shaped History by Bonnie Juettner
• God is Red: A Native View on Religion by Vine Deloria Jr.
• The Wolf at Twilight: An Indian Elder’s Journey Through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows by Kent Nerburn
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown
• The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men by Vine Deloria Jr.
• Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future by Melissa K. Nelson
• 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World by K.B. Schaller
• The Circle is Sacred: A Medicine Book for Women by Scout Cloud Lee
• The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen
• Grandmothers of the Light: A Medicine Woman’s Sourcebook by Paula Gunn Allen
• Two Spirit People: American Indian Lesbian Women and Gay Men by Lester Brown
• American Indians in WWI: At Home and at War by Thomas Britton
• Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law by David Wilkins
• National Geographic on Indians of the Americas by Matthew Stirling
• First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History by Colin Calloway
• Indian Herbology of North America by Alma Hutchens
• Sacred Plant Medicine: The Wisdom in Native American Herbalism by Stephen Harrod Buhner
• How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine and Crafts by Frances Densmore
• Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians by John Swanton
• Native American Stories by Michael Caduto and Joseph Bruchac

Specifically Awesome

(Focuses on a Particular Tribe)

• A Sacred Path: The Way of the Muscogee Creeks by Jean and Joyotpaul Chaudhuri (Mvskoke)
• Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians by Bill Grantham (Mvskoke)
• Creek Religion and Medicine by John Swanton (Mvskoke)
• Creek Indian Medicine Ways: The Enduring Power of Mvskoke Religion by David Lewis Jr. (Mvskoke)
• The Wind is My Mother: The Life and Teachings of a Native American Shaman by Bear Heart (Mvskoke)
• Native Plants Native Healing: Traditional Muskogee Way by Tis Mal Crow (Mvskoke)
• Totkv Mocvse/New Fire: Creek Folktales by Earnest Gouge (Mvskoke)
• The Creeks by Michael Green (Mvskoke)
• The Cherokee Herbal: Native Plant Medicine from the Four Directions by J. T. Garrett (Tsalagi)
• The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing by Lori Arviso Alvord (Dine)
• Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth Fenn (Nueta)
• Dreams and Thunder: Stories, Poems and the Sun Dance Opera by Zitkala-Sa (Yankton Sioux)
• Uprising: The Pueblo Indians and the First American War for Religious Freedom by Jake Pace (Pueblo)
• Black Elk Speaks: The Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux (Oglala Sioux)