Native American Heritage Month Book Club

Explore Indigenous points of view. Discover Native American contemporary literature with this special book club series hosted in partnership with the Museum of the Rockies.

The group will meet Mondays in November (except the last Monday) and discuss different themes of the book. Come to one or all as desired.

Registration required. A limited amount of book will be available to pick up at the library. Contact [email protected] to schedule a time to pick up a book.

The Rediscovery of America by Ned Blackhawk

The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, as a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.

Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non‑Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century. In this transformative synthesis he shows that

European colonization in the 1600s was never a predetermined success

Native nations helped shape England’s crisis of empire

The first shots of the American Revolution were prompted by Indian affairs in the interior

California Indians targeted by federally funded militias were among the first casualties of the Civil War

The Union victory forever recalibrated Native communities across the West

Twentieth-century reservation activists refashioned American law and policy

Blackhawk’s retelling of U.S. history acknowledges the enduring power, agency, and survival of Indigenous peoples, yielding a truer account of the United States and revealing anew the varied meanings of America.