Del Norte Public Library

"In The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, Virginia McConnell Simmons provides a detailed and accurate account of this indigenous nation. Using government documents, archives, and local histories, Simmons has separated the often repeated and often incorrect hearsay from more accurate accounts of the Ute Indians." "Simmons' story begins with the Utes' origins and their first contact with the Spanish, from whom they obtained horses, and...

Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival is a classic Athabascan Indian tale of survival, filled with suspense and wisdom as told by Velma Wallis, an outstanding Native American writer. Her style is a refreshing blend of contemporary and traditional, and her choice of subject matter challenges the taboos of her past. Yet her themes are modern -- empowerment of women, the aging of America, and a growing interest in Native American...

Thirty years ago the University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western worldview. Castaneda's now classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents and the revolution in cognition it demands. In a series of fascinating dialogues, Castaneda sets...

A casual note left on the windshield of a car. The death of an old dog. And author Kent Nerburn unexpectedly finds himself back on the Dakota reservation where more than a decade before he traveled with the elder, Dan, whose thoughts he chronicled in the classic of Native American studies, Neither Wolf nor Dog. Now almost ninety, Dan wants Nerburn to assist in the unlikely task of burying Fatback, the old Labrador who had been Dan's closest companion...

"Vine Deloria, Jr. was named by TIME magazine as one of the greatest religious thinkers of the twentieth century. He was a leading Native American thinker whose research, writings, and teachings on history, law, religion, and politics changed the face of Indian Country, and his influence continues to impact present and future generations of Native and non-Native Americans alike. He has authored many acclaimed and bestselling books, including The World...

Guarded by cliff, river, and desert, the more than sixty sites discussed in this revised and expanded edition of Ancient Ruins include the well-known--Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly--the remote--Grand Gulch, Kinishba Ruins--and the newly discovered--Casa Malpais, Chimney rock Pueblo. In addition to descriptions of each site, the author provides time-saving tips for the traveler, citing major highways, nearby towns and the facilities they offer, campgrounds,...

"In this moving finale to the trilogy that began with Neither Wolf Nor Dog, Kent Nerburn blends history, humor, and heartbreak with a gripping mystery. Once again he visits the Dakota elder Dan and joins in the quest to understand the fate of Dan's little sister, Yellow Bird, a girl with a mystical relationship to animals who disappeared into the Indian boarding school system. Delving beneath the myths, misconceptions, and stereotypes that make up...

Kevin Bell, our human hero, returns to Grants Pass, Oregon at the conclusion of WWI a broken man, injured seemingly beyond repair. He has been damaged by an exploding cannon, an incident he repeats interminably thoughout the book. His memory is shaky and he has become a drunk to stop the pain in his broken jawbone.

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father, a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man, has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey, first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of...

On a hot June morning in 1975, a fatal shoot-out took place between FBI agents and American Indians on a remote property near Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Four members of the American Indian Movement were indicted on murder charges for the deaths of two federal agents killed that day. Leonard Peltier, the only one to be convicted, is now serving consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary. Behind this violent chain of events lie issues of...