This is never going to be complete; there are too many tribes. In fact, we'd like more, if you've been reading (hint, hint). When we accrue enough we will be splitting off the individual ones (the Maya or the Plains tribes look to be first).
Anderson, Fred
Alva, Walter
"Discovering the New World's Richest Unlooted Tomb" ** National Geographic, vol. 174, no. 4, October 1988; pgs 510-515 Introduction to more detailed articles, but prividing not only artifact photos but an overview photo of Sipan today. T2 "Into the Tomb of a Moche Lord" **** National Geographic, vol. 174, no. 4, October 1988; pgs 516-549 Artifact and site photos, with a good introductory text to the Moche, who held a stretch of the Peruvian coast from 100-700 CE. T1
"Discovering the New World's Richest Unlooted Tomb" ** National Geographic, vol. 174, no. 4, October 1988; pgs 510-515 Introduction to more detailed articles, but prividing not only artifact photos but an overview photo of Sipan today. T2
"Into the Tomb of a Moche Lord" **** National Geographic, vol. 174, no. 4, October 1988; pgs 516-549 Artifact and site photos, with a good introductory text to the Moche, who held a stretch of the Peruvian coast from 100-700 CE. T1
Aveni, Anthony F.
"Nazca Lines, Peru: Patterns on the Desert" *** Mysteries of Mankind: Earth's Unexplained Landmarks National Geographic Society, 1992 Good description of the method used to build this combination of path, map, ritual space, and observatory. Experimental archeology proved how little time, equipment, or preparation it really can take. Nice that a few shots with humans show that the figures are really too small to be aircraft parking zones. T1
De Betanzos, Juan
Narrative of the Incas **** University of Texas Press Finally translated, this was written in the 1500s based on the oral history of Betanzos' Inca wife, enriched by his own knowledge of the culture. T2
Black Elk, as told to John G. Neihardt
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux **** now from MJF; 280 pgs Autobiography of a man and a tribe, including Custer, the ghost dance, and Wounded Knee. T2
Boaz, Franz
Introduction to Handbook of American Indian Languages *** Holder, Preston, NY, 1911 Excellent early standard; good intro to basic linguistics. T3
Bray, Warwick
Everyday Life of the Aztecs *****! Barnes & Noble, 208 pgs An excellent base book for your collection. From this you can decide if you can pursue your idea further. T1
Burland, Cottie
North American Indian Mythology *** Barnes & Noble, NY A miscellany of tales from a number of tribes. T1
Capps, Benjamin
The Indians *** part of The Old West series, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA, 1973; 240 pg, index, bibliography Mostly about the Plains tribes after they got horses, but occasionally there will be an odd intrusion of Choctaws, Pueblos, or the like, by careless editors of the many illustrations. Includes how to pack a tipi, saddles and bridles, cradleboards from different tribes, pipes, musical instruments, cooking gear, weapons, courting, marriage, and a great deal on religious ritual. T2
Catlin, George
Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Conditions of the North American Indians **** Dover Publications, NY; 572 pg in 2 vol; illustrated by the author in 312 plates Beautiful watercolours, personalized text of the author's 19th century wanderings among the increasingly displaced tribes. Includes vocabulary for some tribes. T2
Covington, J. W.
The Seminoles of Florida ***** Florida The known history of the tribe. T2
Crow Dog, Leonard, & R. Erdoes
Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men *** HarperCollins Traces the family from Crow Dog, one of Sitting Bull's compatriots, to Leonard Crow Dog of A.I.M. T3
Curtis, Edward S.
The North American Indian: The Complete Portfolios **** Taschen, 768 pgs 800 captioned vintage photos. So old the foreward is by Theodore Roosevelt! Surely the perfect portrait of your characters is in here. T2
Densmore, Frances
How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine & Crafts **** Dover, 122 pg Once again, one tribe -- the Chippewa of Minnesota and Wisconsin -- become all "Indians." And you thought we were bad for lumping everyone together. Good book, despite the title, probably foisted on him by the publisher. T3
Dillehay, T. D.
Doll, Don
Vison Quest: Men, Women and Scred Sites of the Sioux Nation **** Fully illustrated, for those of you who can't travel to the traditional sites. Many modern personalities of traditionalists. T3
Donnan, Christopher B.
"Iconography of the Moche: Unraveling the Mystery of the Warrior-Priest" **** National Geographic, vol. 174, no. 4, October 1988; pgs 551-555 More detail on the Moche rulers found in Peru; see Alva, above. Beautiful paintings reconstruct the appearance of the people. T2
Dooling, D. M.
The Sons of the Wind: The Sacred Stories of the Lakota **** HarperCollins, Publisher; 1984; 136 pg Creation myth, as collected about 1900 by James Walker, MD, from the medicine men of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux), and strung into a continuous mythos by Dooling, working from Walker's notes. T3
Eddy, John A., PhD
"Probing the Mystery of the Medicine Wheels" **** National Geographic, vol.151, no. 1, January 1977; pgs 140-146 Gives the detailed alignments of Bighorn Medicine Wheel and Mouse Mountain Medicine Wheel. Points out that these wheels are so old that the alignments with stars rising at dawn would now not be dead on. T2
Fagan, B. M.
Kingdoms of Gold, Kingdoms of Jade *** Thames & Hudson Good general history of the civilizations of the Americas before the European invasion. T1
Grant, Bruce
Concise Encyclopedia of the American Indian **** Wings; 352 pg Good general reference on many tribes: history, customs, artifacts. T3
von Hagen, Victor W.
World of the Maya ** Mentor Books, NY, 1960
Hay, Clarence L., editor
The Maya and Their Neighbors *** Dover; 634 pg Essays by Kroeber, Morley, Viallant, and other ethnologists. Includes a linguistic map. T2
Hirschfelder, A. & P. Molin
The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions *** MJF For our use, suffers from division into some 1200 articles, through which you have to back-and-forth when hunting the beliefs and practices of any one tribe. T1<
Hyams, Edward, and George Ordish
The Last of the Incas: The Rise and Fall of an American Empire **** Good detail on the royal family and the structure of society in late Inca culture. T2
Ingraham, Holly
People's Names: A Cross-cultural Reference Guide to the Proper Use of Over 40,000 Personal and Familial Names in Over 100 Cultures *****! McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, NC; 1997; 613 pgs, index, select annotated bibliography The Historical half has chapters for Cherokee, Sioux, Cheyenne, Delaware, Nahuatl, Maya, and Quechua naming, besides a general Native (North) American miscellany chapter. T1
Kendall, Ann
Everyday Life of the Incas *****! Barnes & Noble, 216 pgs This will put all the basics of routine and architecture as well as ritual and mythology in one place for you. T1
de Landa, Bishop Diego
Yucatan Before and After the Conquest, with Other Related Documents *****! trans. by William Gates; Baltimore, 1937; now from Dover Publications, Inc., NY Classic account by the chief prelate, who recorded the little he knew and burnt every Mayan book he could find. Required base document for the Maya, whether you like the Spaniards or not. T2
Laubin, Reginald & Gladys
American Indian Archery *****! University of Oklahoma Press, OK, 1980 Excellent discussion of bow and arrow styles and materials by practicing bowyer willing to try any material in experiment. T3
Mails, Thomas E.
The Mystic Warriors of the Plains **** now from Barnes & Noble This is the classic that provided so much of the authenticity of Dances With Wolves, a MUST READ before writing about the Plains horse-tribes. T1 The Cherokee People: The Story of the Cherokee from Earliest Origins to Contemporary Times *****! Marlowe; 368 pgs This gets that extra rating because Plains culture is so much more familiar, to the point that most people think of it as the only Native American culture. If you don't know, the Cherokee were one of the Five Civilized Tribes (so dubbed by the invaders), so intelligent that once having only the CONCEPT of writing explained to him, Sequoia went home and with some friends invented the Cherokee "alphabet" (actually a syllabary). T1
The Mystic Warriors of the Plains **** now from Barnes & Noble This is the classic that provided so much of the authenticity of Dances With Wolves, a MUST READ before writing about the Plains horse-tribes. T1
The Cherokee People: The Story of the Cherokee from Earliest Origins to Contemporary Times *****! Marlowe; 368 pgs This gets that extra rating because Plains culture is so much more familiar, to the point that most people think of it as the only Native American culture. If you don't know, the Cherokee were one of the Five Civilized Tribes (so dubbed by the invaders), so intelligent that once having only the CONCEPT of writing explained to him, Sequoia went home and with some friends invented the Cherokee "alphabet" (actually a syllabary). T1
McIntyre, Loren
"Lost Empire of the Incas" ****< National Geographic, vol. 144, no. 6, December 1973; pgs. 729-787 By exploring the present activities of the natives of the Andes, McIntyre throws a great deal of light on the Incas: what a quipu looks like -- indeed, what the Inca looked like, since the modern natives in festive dress are indistinguishable from their ancestors in art -- how to build a rope bridge, how it feels to be run over by cavalry, reconstructions of ancient Cuzco, drying potatoes, carrying a sacrificial lama to a sacred islet in a reed boat, and so forth. T2
McLoughlin, William G.
Melham, Tom
"Medicine Wheels, United States and Canada: Puzzles of the Plains" *** Mysteries of Mankind: Earth's Unexplained Landmarks< National Geographic Society, 1992 Discusses the several theories about the medicine wheels, which are insoluble. Interesting photos. T1
Morgan, Lewis H.
League of the Iroquois **** 1851; now from JG Press; 124 pgs Covers the complex politics of the northeastern tribes, dealing with each other and the Europeans. T2
Paterek, Josephine
Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume *****! Norton; 516 pgs At last! A costuming lap-breaker for North America! Cover pre-contact as well as post-contact costume, in detail down to the accessories, for both men and women. T1
Powell, Peter J.
Sweet Medicine *****! University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; 1969 A detailed history of the Cheyenne, male and female, from their point of view. Fine reading. T1
Prescott, William Hickling
History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of the Ancient Mexican Civilization and the Life of the Conqueror Hernando Cortez **** 1842 History of the Conquest of Peru, with a Preliminary View of the Civilization of the Incas **** 1847 Classics to give you a solid grounding in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Maya in Yucatan, and the Inca Empire in Peru. The view of the native cultures is dated, but you can correct that in further reading. T2
History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of the Ancient Mexican Civilization and the Life of the Conqueror Hernando Cortez **** 1842
History of the Conquest of Peru, with a Preliminary View of the Civilization of the Incas **** 1847 Classics to give you a solid grounding in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Maya in Yucatan, and the Inca Empire in Peru. The view of the native cultures is dated, but you can correct that in further reading. T2
Roberts, David
In Search of the Old Ones *** Simon & Schuster, NY; 271 pg A good, up-to-date grounding in what is so far known of the Anasazi who built a string of now-deserted pueblos 700 years ago, mostly sheltered in sandstone cliffs. T2
Salmonson, Jessica Amanda
The Encyclopedia of Amazons: Women Warriors from Antiquity to the Modern Era ****< Paragon House, NY, 1991; 290 pg, no index, bibliography Salmonson includes a number of women warriors from different cultures, including the violent Goddesses of Central America. However, she has missed a couple (or had to edit them out to make space requirements), like Buffalo Calf Road Woman (see Powell). T2
The Encyclopedia of Amazons: Women Warriors from Antiquity to the Modern Era ****< Paragon House, NY, 1991; 290 pg, no index, bibliography
Salmonson includes a number of women warriors from different cultures, including the violent Goddesses of Central America. However, she has missed a couple (or had to edit them out to make space requirements), like Buffalo Calf Road Woman (see Powell). T2
Sandoz, Mari
Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglala **** 1942; now from MJF The sort of biography you need if this is your period. Very good detail biography, a bit shy of 500 pages. T2
Schele, Linda
A Forest of Kings: the Untold Story of the Ancient Maya *****! Morrow, NY, 1990 The actual history of the Maya, finally deceiphered from their system of writing and pieced together from the many monuments of Yucatan. T1
Schmidt, Peter, ed.
Spence, Lewis
The Myths of the North American Indians *****! Dover; 450 pg, 36 illos Covers the Algonquin, Iroquois, Pawnee and Sioux, with a lot of anthropological chapters, too. T1
Starita, Joe
The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey **** Putnam; 388 pgs Orally kept history of a Sioux family from the days of Custer to 1990. T3
Starkey, Marion L.
The Cherokee Nation **** JG Press; 355 pgs A good, solid history of the tribe, covering culture but giving more thematic space to their relations with the Europeans, leading to the Trail of Tears. T1
Stierlin, Henri, ed.<
Architecture of the World: Ancient Mexico *****! Taschen, 192 pg Architecture of the World: Mayan *****! Taschen, 192 pg Both these make the valuable contribution of approaching the buildings as architecture, not as supports for pictures, or hiding places for tombs, to which too many archeological books fall prey. T2
Architecture of the World: Ancient Mexico *****! Taschen, 192 pg
Architecture of the World: Mayan *****! Taschen, 192 pg Both these make the valuable contribution of approaching the buildings as architecture, not as supports for pictures, or hiding places for tombs, to which too many archeological books fall prey. T2
Stuart, Gene S.
"Palenque, Mexico: Messages to the Gods" *** Mysteries of Mankind: Earth's Unexplained Landmarks National Geographic Society, 1992 Great atmospheric photos, basic visitor text. T1
Stuart, George E.
"Who Were the 'Mound Builders'?" *****! National Geographic, vol. 142, no. 6, December 1972; pgs. 783-801 Excellent introduction to the artifacts as well as the mounds, including a reconstruction of the town of Cahokia, built within sight of present-day St. Louis, and a small map showing in which states mounds cluster, which can guide you to contacting more local sources. T1
Tanner, John
Thompson, E. H.
People of the Serpent *** NY, 1932 Basic work on the Maya.
Timmons, Boyce D., and Alice Tyner Timmons, editors
Authenticated Rolls of 1880, Cherokee Nation Cha-ga-yau Books Interminable lists, sometimes unavoidably difficult to read. Groups families and gives sex. Spelling in English varies, according to which census taker wrote it down. T3
Townsend, Richard F.
The Aztecs **** Thames & Hudson History, but lots of cultural detail, including choclate-brewing. T1<
West, Elliott
Whitlock, Ralph
Everyday Life of the Maya *****! B&N, 175 pgs An excellent book with which to start both you reading and your collection. More than introductory, it provides a broad framework on which to hang the rest of your information. T1
Voyager, 1992; laserdisc, 59 min.
Mayan, Olmec, and Aztec art from the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology. There are 133 works in still-frame, with 350+ close-ups, and 12 maps. The ten chapters on different cultures have alternate soundtracks in English and Spanish. T3
http://www.ualr.edu/~degonzalaea/guhtml/antgua.html
Covers the Maya of Guatemala, who naturally did not think in terms of modern borders.
http://atlantic.evsc.virginia.edu/julia/AncientWorld.html
Superb linksite, which it would be silly to try and duplicate here. Especially fine for including Asian, American, and African sections, not just Europe and the Near East.
http://fee.unicamp.br/~jorge/arusa.html
Basics on the Aymara of the Andes, who added the potato to the world's diet.
http://www.ucr.edu/h-gig/topperindex.html
A thorough-going linksite maintained by the University of California at Riverside, H-GIG sorts by area, by era (ancient, Medieval, early Modern<includes European expansion>, Modern, and 20th C), or by topic (military, women, etc.). It's a good place to start a hunt for books and essays online.
http://www.yucatan.com.mx/mayas/ingles/fs6.htm
Deals not just with what foods were available, and how cooked, but the whole work and economy of food production and distribution.
http://udgftp.cencar.udg.mx/ingles/Precolumbina/precointro.html
This graphics-rich site from Mexico has special sections on the Mayans, Mexicas, and the Olmecs.