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November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate and recognize the history and experiences of Indigenous and Native American people. In today’s edition of Five Book Friday, we’re bringing you some important books that better illustrate the experiences of some Indigenous people here in the United States and Canada. It is important to reflect on the experiences of Native Americans year-round, not just in November. One of the ways that we can do that is to decolonize our bookshelves and read books about Native Americans written by Native Americans. A good place to start is Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s An Indigenous People’s History of the United States. In her bestselling and award-winning book, Dunbar-Ortiz challenges every aspect of United States history, cracking open the lies and mythology of our country’s founding.

Here are five more books we love right now.

Project 562

Project 562 is a photographic journey into the lives of Native Americans as they are today. Beautiful pictures help tell the stories of joy, love, and acceptance while bringing to light the challenges we still face. Spend a few hours getting to know the more than 562 tribes and educate yourself about whose land you are on. In 2012, Wilbur sold all of her belongings and launched a journey that spanned ten years and all fifty states in her pursuit to celebrate and photograph the Indigenous people of the United States. Matika Wilbur is a photographer and social documentarian from the Swinomish and Tulalip peoples of coastal Washington. — Jamie W.

All Our Relations

Why are so many younger indigenous people taking their own lives? Talaga shares their stories and the devastating impact colonialism has had on severing Indigenous ties to land, family, and belonging all over the globe. Tanya Talaga is an award-winning investigative journalist. She has Anishinaabe roots and her great-grandmother was a residential school survivor. This book is based on a lecture Talaga gave at the 2018 Massey Lectures and was shortlisted for the British Academy's Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. In addition to documenting the impact of colonialism, Talaga also sheds light on the ways in which the Indigenous community is working to provide care to the youth affected by suicide and depression. Talaga is also the author of Seven Fallen Feathers, which is a more in-depth look at the residential school system and the human rights violations that occurred there. — Jamie W.

Unbroken

Unbroken is a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)-focused memoir from award-winning journalist Angela Sterritt. A first-hand account of what it is to grow up Indigenous in these dangerous places, this is a moving and inspirational book and Sterritt uses her gift of journalism to inspire young Indigenous women to continue the fight for their rights. Sterritt is from the Wilp Wiik’aax of the Gitanmaax community within the Gitxsan Nation. Unbroken is both the author’s own story of survival and perseverance as well as investigative reporting on the missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada. — Jamie W.

"Sterritt's story is living proof of how courageous Indigenous women are." — Tanya Talaga, author of Seven Fallen Feathers and All Our Relations

As We Have Always Done

At its core, As We Have Always Done is a marriage of queer and feminist theory and Indigenous study. It is an approachable and accessible argument for the importance of Indigenous intelligence to counteract what Simpson refers to as the colonial machinery of elimination. The author illustrates the ways in which Indigenous groups can mobilize to fight capitalism, white supremacy, and colonialism. One might make the mistake of assuming this is just an academic publication, but it’s so much more, folding in Simpson’s personal experience and advice for actively creating an alternative way of existing while resisting. Simpson is Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg and is a member of Alderville First Nation. — Bry H.

Never Whistle at Night

If a handful of amazing Indigenous authors tell me not to whistle at night, I am going to listen to them! I am, however, going to enjoy reading about what might happen if I do.... Never Whistle at Night is a collection of spine-tingling stories about ghosts, monsters, curses, and hauntings, all from the imaginations of Indigenous writers. — Jamie W.