Our National Indigenous history month has just ended, but we'd like to share some relevant reading suggestions available from Vineyard Haven Library that are included in our new "Core Collection". Inspired by the Alternate Classics Core Collection developed by a team of staff at Denver Public Library, we've identified books in our library's collection to recommend to readers looking to explore wider perspectives.
The 175 fiction and nonfiction titles in this collection are "great works from around the world that may not traditionally be thought of as classics... they are diverse and capture many different voices; they are enduring and important works of literature and narrative non-fiction that speak to the human condition, and are exemplary representations of a particular community, idea, or experience."
To view all titles in the collection with links to our catalog to place a request, visit https://www.vhlibrary.org/alternative.shtml
 | A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes By Jackson, Helen Hunt 9780806127262 Check Our Catalog First published in 1881 and reprinted in numerous editions since, Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor is a classic account of the U.S. government's flawed Indian policy and the unfair and cruel treatment afforded North American Indians by expansionist Americans. Jackson wrote the book as a polemic to "appeal to the hearts and conscience of the American people", who she hoped would demand …More |
 | Ceremony By Silko, Leslie Marmon; Introduction by McMurtry, Larry 9780143104919 Check Our Catalog "Demanding but confident and beautifully written" (Boston Globe), this is the story of a young Native American returning to his reservation after surviving the horrors of captivity as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. …More |
 | Crazy Brave: A Memoir By Harjo, Joy 9780393073461 Check Our Catalog Narrating the complexities of betrayal and love, "Crazy Brave" is a memoir about family and the breaking apart necessary to find a voice. Harjo's tale of a hardscrabble youth, young adulthood, and transformation into an award-winning poet and musician is haunting and unique. …More |
 | Custer Died for Your Sins: Shadows from the Past and Portents for the Future By Deloria, Vine 9780806121291 Check Our Catalog It seems that each generation will have to read and reread Vine Deloria's Manifesto for some time to come, before we absorb his special, ironic point of view and what he tells us, with a great deal of humor, about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists. This book continues to be required reading for all Americans, …More |
 | House Made of Dawn (50th Anniversary Edition) By Momaday, N. Scott 9780062909954 Check Our Catalog A special 50th anniversary edition of the magnificent Pulitzer Prize-winning classic from N. Scott Momaday, with a new preface by the author A young Native American, Abel has come home from war to find himself caught between two worlds. The first is the world of his grandfather's, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, and the …More |
 | An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States By Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne 9780807057834 Check Our Catalog 2015 Recipient of the American Book Award The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program …More |
 | Lakota Woman By Crow Dog, Mary With Erdoes, Richard 9780802145420 Check Our Catalog This is the powerful autobiography of Mary Brave Bird, who grew up in the misery of a South Dakota reservation. Rebelling against the violence and hopelessness of reservation life, she joined the tribal pride movement in an effort to bring about much-needed changes. …More |
 | Love Medicine By Erdrich, Louise 9780062206312 Check Our Catalog The first book in Erdrich's Native American tetralogy that includes The Beet Queen, Tracks, and The Bingo Palace is an authentic and emotionally powerful glimpse into the Native American experience--now resequenced and expanded to include never-before-published chapters. …More |
 | My People the Sioux By Standing Bear, Luther Introduction by Sneve, Virginia Driving Hawk 9780803293328 Check Our Catalog When it was first published in 1928, Luther Standing Bear's autobiographical account of his tribe and tribesmen was hailed by Van Wyck Brooks as "one of the most engaging and veracious we have ever had." It remains a landmark …More |
 | There There: A novel By Orange, Tommy 9780525520375 Check Our Catalog One of the 10 Best Books of the Year--The New York Times Book Review Winner of the Center For Fiction First Novel Prize One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, NPR, Time, O, The Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, GQ, The Dallas Morning …More |
To view all titles in the collection with links to our catalog to place a request, visit https://www.vhlibrary.org/alternative.shtml
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