Covers five hundred years of Indian humor to challenge the stereotypes of
American Indians as “wooden” and “stoic.” Lincoln particularly focuses on the
last quarter of the twentieth century and Louise Erdrich, James Welch, N. Scott
Momaday, Paula Gunn Allen, and Linda Hogan.
Lincoln, Native American Renaissance (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1983).
Landmark study that laid the groundwork for understanding the major issues,
themes, and forms that have characterized the Native American Renaissance.
Lincoln focuses especially on Black Elk (Oglala Sioux), N. Scott Momaday,
Simon J. Ortiz, James Welch, Wendy Rose, and Leslie Marmon Silko.
Charles C. Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus (New
York: Random House, 2005).
In-depth reportage of the past thirty years of scholarship, which has shown that
the 1491 population was much higher than ever before realized (between 100 and
200 million), and which dispels many of the myths about Native Americans—for
instance, that they had no cities and no significant impact on the landscape.
Peter Nabokov, ed., Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Rela-
tions from Prophecy to the Present, 1492–2000, revised edition (New York:
Penguin, 1999).
Invaluable collection of passages from stories, legends, letters, memoirs, personal
accounts, manifestos, and histories by American Indians from first contact to the
end of the twentieth century.
Joane Nagel, American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Red Power and the Resurgence of
Identity and Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).
Although not about literature, a good resource for information on American
Indian history in the contemporary period. Nagel also offers accessible theories
for understanding ethnicity and culture.
Louis Owens, Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel, Ameri-
can Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series, volume 3 (Norman: Uni-
versity of Oklahoma Press, 1992).
Readings of works spanning 1854 to the 1990s, focusing on themes of self-
discovery and cultural recovery. Contemporary authors discussed are N. Scott
Momaday, James Welch, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, Michael Dorris,
and Gerald Vizenor.
Joy Porter and Kenneth M. Roemer, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Native
American Literature (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Excellent collection, including an informative introduction and a time line by
Roemer; three essays on historical and cultural contexts, including one on trans-
lation and one on women writers and gender issues; essays on nonfiction, life
writing, poetry, pre-1968 fiction, post-1968 fiction, and theater; and essays on
N. Scott Momaday, Simon J. Ortiz, James Welch, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gerald
Vizenor, Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, and Sherman Alexie.