I grew up 50 miles from the real-life location of the events of Killers of the Flower Moon. I was less than 40 miles from the location of the Tulsa Race Massacre. I know so much about the history of places like Egypt, Rome, and Great Britain and barely know anything about the intense and important history that happened right next to my childhood home. I went around saying that the US just doesn’t have the same history as somewhere like London- and it shames me to realize that North America has every hit as much history and culture as England- we just wiped it out. I mean we were taught about the “Tulsa Race RIOTS” in school for about a day- but that’s it.
So- all that to say- what are some good books on the history of Oklahoma, Native Americans, and North America in general? I feel like I have some catching up to do.
by hometowngypsy
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*1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus* –Charles Mann
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
The Indigenous Palaeolithic of the Western Hemisphere by Paulette FC Steeves
Red Skin White Masks by Glen Sean Coulthard
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee-Dee Brown
Heartbeat of Wounded Knee-David Truer
Unworthy Republic-Claudio Saunt
This isn’t so much a book of history, but *Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits* talks about Indigenous artifacts and religious relics that were stolen or traded away in desperate times, and the ongoing struggle to return them to their rightful owners. It’s not just items, but also bodies (now bones) literally stolen from fresh graves by “archeologists.” (And by that I mean purveyors of white supremacist pseudo-science) [Some museums, like the Smithsonian, literally have thousands of human remains in their collections](https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/statement-human-remains-smithsonian-institution).
You might be interested in *Cherokee Women* by Theda Purdue, which I really enjoyed. I know it’s not what you asked for, but it talks about the gender roles of Cherokee society before colonization, and then how colonization and trade with white settlers impacted the Cherokee gendered power dynamics.
Since you mention the Tulsa Race Riots, you might also be interested in *Dixie’s Daughters* by Karen Cox, which talks about the United Daughters of the Confederacy and their role in promulgating the Lost Cause through monument building. She also published a follow-up discussing the monuments debate *No Common Ground*.
Look up the seven dream series by Vollmann. Especially Fathers and Crows, The Dying Grass, or Argall. Painstaking researched literature.