As early as 1916, the state of New York became the first state to honor Native Americans by declaring an “American Indian Day.” However, it wasn’t until August of 1990 that President George H.W. Bush designated the month of November as “National American Indian Heritage Month.”
As we honor the contributions of the original habitants of the USA, it’s important to not sugarcoat the heartbreaking treatment of Native Americans throughout history. These select e-books cover Native American history and reveal both past and current tribulations of Native people.
The below e-book deals are $2.99 across all major US/CA retailers from November 1-30.
Published to celebrate the monument’s 100th anniversary in 2025, A Biography of A Mountain combines history with reportage, bringing the complicated and nuanced story of Mt. Rushmore to life. From the land’s origins as sacred tribal ground to the expansion of the American West to the politicized present-day conflict over the site, Matthew Davis writes with sensitivity about the complex past and future of one of America’s most recognizable landmarks.
Who is Indian enough?
To be Native American is to live in a world of contradictions. At the same time that the number of people in the US who claim Native identity has exploded—the number of people formally enrolled in Tribes has not. While the federal government recognizes Tribal sovereignty, being a member of a Tribe requires navigating blood quantum laws and rolls that the federal government created with the intention of wiping out Native people altogether. Over two million Native people are tribally enrolled, yet there are Native people who will never be. Native people who, for a variety of reasons ranging from displacement to disconnection, cannot be card-carrying members of their Tribe.
In The Indian Card, through in-depth interviews, Schuettpelz shares the stories of people caught in the mire of identity-formation, as she reckons as well with her own tribal identity.
The Long, Bitter Trail by Anthony F.C. Wallace is an informative and sobering study of the Congress’s Indian Removal Act of 1830. It reveals the plight of the Southeast Indians—Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles—who were forced to leave their ancestral lands and relocate to what is now the state of Oklahoma. Focusing on Andrew Jackson’s central role in the government’s policies, Wallace examines the racist attitudes toward Native Americans that led to their removal and, ultimately, their tragic fate.
Good Friday on the Rez follows the author on a one-day, 280-mile round-trip from his boyhood Nebraska hometown of Alliance to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he reconnects with his longtime friend and blood brother, Vernell White Thunder. In a compelling mix of personal memoir and recent American Indian history, David Hugh Bunnell debunks the prevalent myth that all is hopeless for these descendants of Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Sitting Bull and shows how the Lakota people have recovered their pride and dignity and why they will ultimately triumph.