Washoe County Library System

"NATIONAL BESTSELLER New York Times • "15 Works of Nonfiction to Read This Fall" Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction "[A] towering achievement. By gathering the experiences of multiple Native peoples-across an astounding expanse of time and space-Indigenous Continent explodes the view that American history unfolded inexorably according to European and American design." -Andrew Graybill, The American Scholar A...

Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new "emancipation" bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isnt about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a "termination"...

Presents a biography of the Paulute Indian who dedicated her life to fight for her people as an interpreter and messenger for the U.S. Army, a speaker against the reservation system, and founder of a Native American school.

At the age of twelve, under the Wind moon, Will is given a horse, a key, and a map, and sent alone into the Indian Nation to run a trading post as a bound boy. It is during this time that he grows into a man, learning, as he does, of the raw power it takes to create a life, to find a home. In a card game with a white Indian named Featherstone, Will wins a mysterious girl named Claire. As Will's destiny intertwines with the fate of the Cherokee Indians,...

In The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, Treuer melds history with reportage and memoir. Tracing the tribes' distinctive cultures from first contact, he explores how the depredations of each era spawned new modes of survival. The devastating seizures of land gave rise to increasingly sophisticated legal and political maneuvering that put the lie to the myth that Indians don't know or care about property. The forced assimilation of their children at government-run...

"Examines how First Nations and Native Peoples have been displaced in the United States and Canada through treaties, empty promises, and military force. Through close examination of primary source images, documents, and first-hand accounts, readers will gain an understanding of how thousands were displaced and cultures threatened. Topics covered include government relations and policies, such as the Potlatch Law and the Dawes Act, as well as the creation...