50 Events That Shaped American Indian History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic

Martinez and Bordeaux (both, ethnic studies, Univ. of Colorado Denver) provide a noteworthy look at Native American history. While many other titles contain similar information, this volume distinguishes itself from others because of its Native American perspective. Its editors and contributors have studied Native American history or worked with the nations, which ensures that topics such as government policy of white superiority are not whitewashed. The book is divided by time periods into eight sections, each tackling about three to 12 events, and examines 40,000 years of history. Each entry begins with a chronology and background essay. Also included are biographies of individuals, sidebars with added content, document excerpts, further reading listings, and black-and-white illustrations. Barry M. Pritzker's Native Americans: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and People covers related ground but is divided by geography and tribe, making it harder to view the larger context, and it isn't written from a Native American viewpoint. The Cavendish Corporation's The Encyclopedia of North American Indians is also an option for those seeking materials on this topic, but it has similar issues with perspective.