100 books like The First Oregonians

By Laura Berg (editor),

Here are 100 books that The First Oregonians fans have personally recommended if you like The First Oregonians. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of With Her Own Wings: Historical Sketches, Reminiscences and Anecdotes of Pioneer Women

Tom Fuller Author Of Oregon at Work: 1859-2009

From my list on Oregon pioneer history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been a history lover. Since my 7th-grade teacher brought history to life I have been interested in a wide variety of topics and times. After living in Oregon for twenty-five years I found myself wanting to contribute to the cataloging of this great state’s history. The niche I discovered was to explore the world of work over Oregon’s history. Researching Oregon at Work: 1859-2009 I spent many hours across kitchen tables with the descendants of Oregon pioneers. They had boxes of ancient documents and photographs on their side, I came equipped with my laptop and scanner. Through this process, I researched thousands of documents, books, maps, diaries, photos, and more. I became an expert on the subject and my interest only grew.

Tom's book list on Oregon pioneer history

Tom Fuller Why did Tom love this book?

We often think of Oregon pioneers were hardy men setting off for a new promised land. In reality, the women who made the perilous journey and carved a life out of the Oregon wilderness are the real heroes. This book captures the pioneer spirit of the women who ventured out west, and those already in the land. One of the things I like best about this book is the narrative fashion - as if we are living in the shoes or moccasins of the women featured. There is a great article about Sacajawea, the only woman in the Lewis and Clark expedition.

By Helen Krebs Smith, Gladys Chilstrom,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked With Her Own Wings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is a new release of the original 1948 edition.


Book cover of Schoolmarms

Tom Fuller Author Of Oregon at Work: 1859-2009

From my list on Oregon pioneer history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been a history lover. Since my 7th-grade teacher brought history to life I have been interested in a wide variety of topics and times. After living in Oregon for twenty-five years I found myself wanting to contribute to the cataloging of this great state’s history. The niche I discovered was to explore the world of work over Oregon’s history. Researching Oregon at Work: 1859-2009 I spent many hours across kitchen tables with the descendants of Oregon pioneers. They had boxes of ancient documents and photographs on their side, I came equipped with my laptop and scanner. Through this process, I researched thousands of documents, books, maps, diaries, photos, and more. I became an expert on the subject and my interest only grew.

Tom's book list on Oregon pioneer history

Tom Fuller Why did Tom love this book?

This book details the life of Ada Bell, a young woman who traveled all by herself to the tiny community of Bakeoven, Oregon to teach school. The “town” consisted of a hotel, a blacksmith’s shop, a store, a post office, a stage stop - and not much more. Ada got off the stage with no idea where to go or how to start her life as a teacher. Ada encapsulates the pioneer spirit as she forges a life and impacts the lives of her students over the years.

By Helen Rees Guyton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Schoolmarms as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Clever sketches by Elizabeth Rocchia enliven the pages of first-hand experiences Ada Bell recorded in diaries, themes, and poems.


Book cover of Christians on the Oregon Trail: Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon, 1842-1882

Tom Fuller Author Of Oregon at Work: 1859-2009

From my list on Oregon pioneer history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been a history lover. Since my 7th-grade teacher brought history to life I have been interested in a wide variety of topics and times. After living in Oregon for twenty-five years I found myself wanting to contribute to the cataloging of this great state’s history. The niche I discovered was to explore the world of work over Oregon’s history. Researching Oregon at Work: 1859-2009 I spent many hours across kitchen tables with the descendants of Oregon pioneers. They had boxes of ancient documents and photographs on their side, I came equipped with my laptop and scanner. Through this process, I researched thousands of documents, books, maps, diaries, photos, and more. I became an expert on the subject and my interest only grew.

Tom's book list on Oregon pioneer history

Tom Fuller Why did Tom love this book?

You may not realize that the reason many came across the Oregon Trail was because of their religious and moral beliefs. Christians on the Oregon Trail highlights many well-known Oregon pioneers and details how their Christian beliefs inspired them both on the trail and once they arrived in Oregon. Some of those detailed are: Jason Lee, the Whitmans, Reuben Lewis, and many others. The book gives you also some of the theological underpinnings of the pioneers. 

Book cover of The Doctor in Oregon: A Medical History

Tom Fuller Author Of Oregon at Work: 1859-2009

From my list on Oregon pioneer history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been a history lover. Since my 7th-grade teacher brought history to life I have been interested in a wide variety of topics and times. After living in Oregon for twenty-five years I found myself wanting to contribute to the cataloging of this great state’s history. The niche I discovered was to explore the world of work over Oregon’s history. Researching Oregon at Work: 1859-2009 I spent many hours across kitchen tables with the descendants of Oregon pioneers. They had boxes of ancient documents and photographs on their side, I came equipped with my laptop and scanner. Through this process, I researched thousands of documents, books, maps, diaries, photos, and more. I became an expert on the subject and my interest only grew.

Tom's book list on Oregon pioneer history

Tom Fuller Why did Tom love this book?

The history of the medical profession in Oregon is not what you might think. It wasn’t started by a bunch of scientists. Early “practitioners” were more snake oil salesmen than doctors. In fact, it was many years before any sort of standards existed. O. Larsells book gives all that history in all its less-than-stellar beginning. Among those highlighted are William Lysander Adams who was a vocal opponent of medical quackery.

By O. Larsell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Doctor in Oregon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Moccasin Trail

Emily Hayse Author Of These War-Torn Hands

From my list on capturing the poignant beauty of the American West.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since I can remember, I've been captivated by the American West. Was it that cowboys were brave and if you had integrity it was most certainly put to the test? Was it that everyone rode horses and I was a horse crazy girl? Whatever it was that struck me, it stayed. I have treasured the West ever since, through books, film, art, and most recently, a fantasy western trilogy of my own. 

Emily's book list on capturing the poignant beauty of the American West

Emily Hayse Why did Emily love this book?

This historical fiction novel features nineteen-year-old Jim Keath, born white, but rescued and adopted by the Crow when he was badly wounded by a bear. He lives as a trapper now, avoiding both sides of his life, but when his younger siblings write to him, asking for his help in staking a land claim, he can't run from his past anymore. The story deals beautifully and honestly with human nature, the harsh realities of survival in Oregon Territory, and the importance of family. And the stark western landscape plays a large part in the story.

By Eloise Jarvis McGraw,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Moccasin Trail as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

A pioneer boy, brought up by Crow Indians, is reunited with his family and attempts to orient himself in the white man's culture.


Book cover of Ride the Free Wind

Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy Author Of Tall, Dark, and Cherokee

From my list on Native American romantic suspense.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a lifelong history lover. I was the kid who hung around the feet of the elders, listening to their stories and learning about the past. That led to a deep interest in tracing family history, which has been a passion since about the age of ten. I still can get lost for hours finding ancestors or reading about their lives. That interest led me to a double major in college and I earned a Bachelor of Arts in both history and English with a two-year degree in journalism. I live a short distance from Oklahoma and one of my favorite pastimes is to go to powwows whenever possible.

Lee Ann's book list on Native American romantic suspense

Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy Why did Lee Ann love this book?

I have a passion for history and did one of my history thesis in college on white women and their Native American captives. In this story, there's a strong attraction, a commitment to abandon the life she knows by the heroine to embrace her lover's culture. Zeke's transformation back into Lone Eagle is one that really touched me emotionally.

By Rosanne Bittner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ride the Free Wind as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The second book in Rosanne Bittner’s bold Savage Destiny series continues the love story of Zeke and Abbie Monroe. For the first five years of her marriage Abbie lives among the Cheyenne, learning their customs and beliefs and giving birth to a son who is as wild and free as his Native American family, and a daughter who will one day be forced to choose between her Indian and white blood. Through real historical events involving the government and Native Americans, Zeke and Abbie cling to one another through danger and torn loyalties. This story vividly depicts the “right” and…


Book cover of Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto

Stephen L. Pevar Author Of The Rights of Indians and Tribes

From my list on rights of Indian tribes and their members.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 1971, when I graduated from law school, I received a fellowship to help staff a Legal Aid office on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I lived there for nearly four years, representing tribal members in tribal, state, and federal courts. I then worked for 45 years on the National Legal Staff of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). One of my major responsibilities was helping Indian tribes and their members protect and enforce their rights, and I filed numerous cases on their behalf. During that time, I taught Federal Indian Law for more than 20 years and also published The Rights of Indians and Tribes. 

Stephen's book list on rights of Indian tribes and their members

Stephen L. Pevar Why did Stephen love this book?

Vine Deloria, Jr., was one of the most influential Native American authors, and this is one of his most significant books. I was greatly moved by Mr. Deloria’s candid discussion of how white people screwed the Indians.

Mr. Deloria not only gives numerous illustrations of wrongdoing, but the book contains a section on how white people can try to make amends. Although this book is now 50 years old, it is a major contribution to American Indian literature. It helped shape my thinking about how our country has treated (and mistreated) Native Americans.

By Vine Deloria,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Custer Died for Your Sins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In his new preface to this paperback edition, the author observes, "The Indian world has changed so substantially since the first publication of this book that some things contained in it seem new again." Indeed, it seems that each generation of whites and Indians will have to read and reread Vine Deloria’s Manifesto for some time to come, before we absorb his special, ironic Indian point of view and what he tells us, with a great deal of humor, about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists. This book continues to be required reading for all Americans,…


Book cover of Assembled for Use: Indigenous Compilation and the Archives of Early Native American Literatures

Ivy Schweitzer and Gordon Henry Author Of Afterlives of Indigenous Archives

From my list on Native American cultural archives.

Why are we passionate about this?

Though from different backgrounds, we share a profound passion for Native culture. As an enrolled member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe of Minnesota, Gordon’s poetry and fiction draw deeply from his Anishinabe heritage and contribute to the current flowering of Indian writing. Ivy is the grandchild of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. As a scholar and teacher, she was appalled that Native writers are largely excluded from the American canon and worked to right that wrong. They met through their shared interest in Samson Occom, an 18th-century Mohegan writer, and decided to collaborate on increasing awareness of the necessity of Native writing to sustaining our future.

Ivy's book list on Native American cultural archives

Ivy Schweitzer and Gordon Henry Why did Ivy love this book?

Though we are thankful for the current movements to decolonize archives and museums, from at least 1750, Native writers have been doing this important survival work of asserting Native ways of knowing. This revelation is the subject of Wisecup’s ground-breaking study. It shows how early Native writers assembled lists, collages, and literary texts that, through juxtaposition and recontextualization, resisted the way colonial archives defined their bodies, belongings, and words as ethnographic evidence of vanishing peoples. Wisecup offers revealing ways to read the Indigenous compilations of key figures like Mohegan Samson Occom’s medicinal recipes, Ojibwe Charlotte Johnston’s poetry scrapbooks, and Abenaki leader Joseph Laurent’s vocabulary lists. We also deeply appreciate how Wisecup ends each chapter by connecting the early writer it focuses on to contemporary Indigenous culture.

By Kelly Wisecup,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Assembled for Use as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A wide-ranging, multidisciplinary look at Native American literature through non-narrative texts like lists, albums, recipes, and scrapbooks

"An intricate history of Native textual production, use, and circulation that reshapes how we think about relationships between Native materials and settler-colonial collections."-Rose Miron, D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library

Kelly Wisecup offers a sweeping account of early Native American literatures by examining Indigenous compilations: intentionally assembled texts that Native people made by juxtaposing and recontextualizing textual excerpts into new relations and meanings. Experiments in reading and recirculation, Indigenous compilations include Mohegan minister Samson Occom's medicinal…


Book cover of Creation's Journey: Native American Identity and Belief

Greg Shed Author Of Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

From my list on Native American history.

Why am I passionate about this?

Greg Shed is a self-taught California illustrator specializing in Americana. In addition to commercial work and portraits, he has illustrated more than a dozen children’s books—several of which are about American history. A dedicated researcher, Greg has traveled from the Plymouth colony to the American prairie in search of authenticity and details. He has consulted with Native American craftsmen on the manufacture of native period attire. He is known for capturing golden light in his paintings, which often depict Native American cultures, wildlife, and landscapes.

Greg's book list on Native American history

Greg Shed Why did Greg love this book?

Creation’s Journey ties actual native stories and beliefs with genuine artifacts from the vast collections of the National Museum of the American Indian. It provides a refreshing approach to our understanding of indigenous people’s utilitarian objects and how important they are in their daily lives. The photos in this book show the care for detail and craftsmanship that was pervasive in everyday Native American objects and clothing. It inspired me to commission native Americans to hand make the various costumes shown in my book.

By Tom Hill (editor), Richard W. Hill (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Creation's Journey as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Drawing on the vast collections of the National Museum of the American Indian, Creation’s Journey retells the story of native life from the Arctic to the Tierra del Fuego, and from childhood to old age.


Book cover of In the Courts of the Conquerer: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided

Stephen L. Pevar Author Of The Rights of Indians and Tribes

From my list on rights of Indian tribes and their members.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 1971, when I graduated from law school, I received a fellowship to help staff a Legal Aid office on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I lived there for nearly four years, representing tribal members in tribal, state, and federal courts. I then worked for 45 years on the National Legal Staff of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). One of my major responsibilities was helping Indian tribes and their members protect and enforce their rights, and I filed numerous cases on their behalf. During that time, I taught Federal Indian Law for more than 20 years and also published The Rights of Indians and Tribes. 

Stephen's book list on rights of Indian tribes and their members

Stephen L. Pevar Why did Stephen love this book?

The U.S. Supreme Court has often been filled with Justices who issued racist decisions against Indian tribes and their members. In reaching these decisions, these Justices often overlooked significant facts and created new legal principles to suit their purposes.

Mr. Echo-Hawk selected the 10 worst cases the Supreme Court had decided up to that point. He discusses the factual background of each case and explains why the Court’s decision is wrong, often revealing the Justices' known prejudices.

This book is an eye-opener for readers wondering whether Indian tribes have had a fair chance of winning cases in the Supreme Court.

By Walter R Echo-Hawk,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In the Courts of the Conquerer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now in paperback, an important account of ten Supreme Court cases that changed the fate of Native Americans, providing the contemporary historical/political context of each case, and explaining how the decisions have adversely affected the cultural survival of Native people to this day.


Book cover of With Her Own Wings: Historical Sketches, Reminiscences and Anecdotes of Pioneer Women
Book cover of Schoolmarms
Book cover of Christians on the Oregon Trail: Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in Early Oregon, 1842-1882

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