I absolutely love books, collecting knowledge to pass onto future generations. I inherited this love from my mother, with whom I spent my summers in public libraries and evenings cuddled up together reading. Knowledge is power. This is a living list of books, many I have read, many I hope to read. My wish is that one of these books sparks an interest in you, however it may serve you in your journey. This list does not serve as an endorsement of their content and all books listed are subject to removal. If you have a reading suggestion, please connect with me!
Reading list
land back from
palestine to
turtle island
plantcesters & Herbal medicine
+ Ix Hmen U Tzaco Ah Maya: Maya Herbal Medicine by Aurora Garcia Saqui
+ Wind in the Blood: Mayan Healing and Chinese Medicine by Hernán Garcia, Antonio Sierra & Gilberto Balám, translated by Jeff Conant
+ Iwigara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science by Enrique Salmón
+ Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings by Mary Siisip Geniusz
+ Rainforest Home Remedies: The Maya Way to Heal Your Body & Replenish Your Soul by Rosita Arvigo & Nadine Epstein
+ Body into Balance: An Herbal Guide to Holistic Self-Care by Maria Noël Groves
+ Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life: Achieving Optimal Health and Wellness Through Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, and Western Science by Claudia Welch
+ Sacred Plant Medicine: The Wisdom in Native American Herbalism by Stephen Harrod Buhner
+ A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundle: Revelations of Indigenous Wisdom--Healing Plants, Practices, and Stories by David Young, Robert Rogers & Russell Willier
traditional foodways
+ U Janal Aj Maya: Traditional Maya Cuisine by Aurora Garcia Saqui with Amy Lichty
+ Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity, and Resilience by Enrique Salmón
+ The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley
+ Awakening Fertility: The Essential Art of Preparing for Pregnancy by Heng Ou with Amely Greeven & Marisa Belger
+ Nine Golden Months: The Essential Art of Nourishing the Mother-To-Be by Heng Ou with Amely Greeven & Marisa Belger
+ The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother by Heng Ou with Amely Greeven & Marisa Belger
Indigenous wisdom
+ The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise by Martín Prechtel
+ The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom - A Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miguel Ruiz
+ Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
+ The Seven Generations and The Seven Grandfather Teachings by James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw
+ Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec
+ Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez, PhD
+ Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability, edited by Melissa K. Nelson & Daniel Shilling
+ Think Indigenous: Native American Spirituality for a Modern World by Doug Good Feather
+ The Seven Circles: Indigenous Teachings for Living Well by Chelsey Luger & Thosh Collins
+ Indian from the Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis H. McPherson & J. Douglas Rabb
+ Black Elk Speaks: The Complete Edition by John J. Neidhardt
History, resistance & collective liberation
Some of these titles include traumatic themes. Please take tender care of yourself.
+ Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano
+ An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
+ As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker
+ Roots of Resistance: A Story of Gender, Race, and Labor on the North Coast of Honduras by Suyapa Portillo Villeda
+ Looking Out, Looking In: Anthology of Latino Poetry (Hispanic Civil Rights), edited by William Luis
+ The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth by The Red Nation
+ Our History Is The Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance by Nick Estes
+ Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement by Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon
+ Red Nation Rising: From Bordertown Violence to Native Liberation by Nick Estes, Melanie Yazzie, Jennifer Nez Denetdale & David Correia
+ Our Sacred Maíz Is Our Mother: Indigeneity and Belonging in the Americas by Roberto Cintli Rodriguez
+ Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot
+ Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty by Dorothy Roberts
+ Policing the Womb by Michele Goodwin
+ Birthing Justice by Julia Chinyere Parah and Alicia D. Bonaparte
+ Reproductive Justice by Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger
+ Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington
+ Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States by Audra Simpson
+ Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
+ The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe
+ Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe
+ Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Masalha
+ The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer
+ U.S. Foreign Policy and the Crisis of Humanity by Daniel Silver
+ Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World by Peter Chapman
+ Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala by Stephen Schlesinger
+ The Broken Village: Coffee, Migration, and Globalization in Honduras by Daniel R. Reichman
+ Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration by Aviva Chomsky
+ The Long Honduran Night: Resistance , Terror, and the United States in the Aftermath of the Coup by Dana Frank
+ Who Killed Berta Caceres?: The Murder of an Indigenous Defender and the Race to Save the Planet by Nina Lakhani
+ Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala, edited by Catherine Nolin and Grahame Russell
+ Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria Jr.
+ Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact by Vine Deloria Jr.
+ Life of the Indigenous Mind: Vine Deloria Jr. and the Birth of the Red Power Movement by David Martínez
+ The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friederick Engels
Birth Traditions & Rites
+ Red Medicine: Traditional Indigenous Rites of Birthing and Healing by Patrisia Gonzales
+ The Birth of a Universe / Ri utik awex jun Kaljulew: The Maya Science of Pregnancy by Apab’yan Tew
+ Thriving Postpartum: Embracing the Indigenous Wisdom of la Cuarentena by Pānquetzani
+ Delivered by Midwives: African American Midwifery in the Twentieth-Century South by Jenny M. Luke
+ Indigenous Experiences of Preguancy and Birth, edited by Hannah Tait Neufeld & Jaime Cidro
+ No Alternative: Childbirth, Citizenship, and Indigenous Culture in Mexico by Rosalynn A. Vega
+ Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin
+ Safe in a Midwife’s Hands: Birthing Traditions from Africa to the American South by Linda Janet Holmes
+ The Women Who Caught Babies: A Story of African American Midwives by Eloise Greenfield
+ The Big Letdown by Kimberly Seals Allers
+ Breastfeeding Made Simple by Nancy Mohrbacher and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
+ Pregnancy, Labor and Delivery and the Newborn by Penny Simkins
+ The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Partners, Doulas, and Other Labor Companions by Penny Simkins with Katie Rohs
Womben, Femmes Gender & Sexual wellness
+ I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú
+ Medicine Women, Curanderas, and Women Doctors by Bobette Perrone, H. Henrietta Stockel, and Victoria Krueger
+ Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English
+ When God was a Woman: The landmark exploration of an ancient worship of the Great Goddess and the eventual suppression of women’s rites by Merlin Stone
+ Yoni Shakti: A Woman’s Guide to Power and Freedom Through Yoga and Tantra by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli
+ Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America by Gregory D. Smithers
+ Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine by Liz Childs Kelly
+ Somacultural Liberation: An Indigenous Two-Spirit Somatic Guide To Integrating Cultural Experiences Toward Freedom by Roger Kuhn, PhD
+ Upon Her Shoulders: Southwestern Native Women Share Their Stories of Justice, Spirit, and Community, edited by Mary Ann Jacobs, Cherry Breasley & Ulrike Wiethaus
+ Talkin’ Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism by Aileen Moreton-Robinson
+ We Are Dancing For You: Native Feminisms & the Revitalization of Women’s Coming-Of-Age Ceremonies by Cutcha Risling Baldy
+ Women’s Poems of Protest and Resistance: Honduras (2009-2014), general editor Lely Elvir, translated by María Roof
+ Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks
+ Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks
+ Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks
+ Crystal Healing and Sacred Pleasure: Awaken Your Sensual Energy Using Crystals and Healing Rituals, One Chakra at a Time by Vanessa Cuccia
spirituality & life teachings
+ Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of The Mayan Book of The Dawn of Life and The Glories of Gods and Kings, translated by Dennis Tedlock
+ Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya: The Ceremonies and Symbolism of a Living Tradition by Gabriela Jurosz-Landa
+ Los Nawales: The Ancient Ones by Vincent James Stanzione
+ God is Red: A Native View of Religion by Vine Deloria Jr.
+ The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men by Vine Deloria Jr.
+ Brujas: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color by Lorraine Monteagut, PhD
+ Woman Who Glows in the Dark: A Curandera Reveals Traditional Aztec Secrets of Physical and Spiritual Health by Elena Avila
+ Curanderismo Soul Retrieval: Ancient Shamanic Wisdom to Restore the Sacred Energy of the Soul by Erika Buenaflor, M.A., J.D.
+ Veneration Rites of Curanderismo: Invoking the Sacred Energy of our Ancestors by Erika Buenaflor, M.A., J.D.
+ Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo by Erika Buenaflor, M.A., J.D.
+ Sacred Energies of the Sun & Moon by Erika Buenaflor, M.A., J.D.
+ Animal Medicine: A Curanderismo Guide to Shapeshifting, Journeying, and Connecting with Animal Allies by Erika Buenaflor, M.A., J.D.
Human evolution & Primatology
+ Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
+ Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
+ Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves by Frans de Waal
+ Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist by Frans de Waal
+ Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal
+ Through A Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe by Jane Goodall
+ The Great Apes: A Short History by Chris Hezfeld
+ Decolonizing Extinction: The Work of Care in Orangutan Rehabilitation by Julio Salazar Parreñas
