Native American Almanac: More Than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples

Explore the vibrant Native American experience with this comprehensive and affordable historical overview of Indigenous communities and Native American life!

The impact of early encounters, past policies, treaties, wars, and prejudices toward America’s Indigenous peoples is a legacy that continues to mark America. The history of the United States and Native Americans are intertwined. Agriculture, place names, and language have all been influenced by Native American culture. The stories and history of pre- and post-colonial Tribal Nations and peoples continue to resonate and informs the geographical boundaries, laws, language and modern life.

From ancient rock drawings to today’s urban living, the Native American Almanac: More than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples traces the rich heritage of indigenous people. It is a fascinating mix of biography, pre-contact and post-contact history, current events, Tribal Nations’ histories, enlightening insights on environmental and land issues, arts, treaties, languages, education, movements, and more. Ten regional chapters, including urban living, cover the narrative history, the communities, land, environment, important figures, and backgrounds of each area’s Tribal Nations and peoples. The stories of 345 Tribal Nations, biographies of 400 influential figures in all walks of life, Native American firsts, awards, and statistics are covered. 150 photographs and illustrations bring the text to life.

The most complete and affordable single-volume reference work about Native American culture available today, the Native American Almanac is a unique and valuable resource devoted to illustrating, demystifying, and celebrating the moving, sometimes difficult, and often lost history of the indigenous people of America. Capturing the stories and voices of the American Indian of yesterday and today, it provides a range of information on Native American history, society, and culture. A must have for anyone interested in our America’s rich history!

Yvonne Wakim Dennis is an award winning author of non-fiction books for children and adults, many coauthored with Arlene Hirschfelder. Dennis interweaves environmental justice into all she writes and credits her diverse family (Cherokee/Sand Hill/Syrian) for piquing her interest in an inclusive and multicultural world. Although most of her publications have been about Indigenous peoples of the U.S., she has also penned books about the many different cultures of America. She serves as the Education Director for the Children's Cultural Center of Native America and is a board director of Nitchen, Inc. an advocacy organization for Indigenous families in the New York City metro area. In 2014, Dennis received the National Arab American Museum's Best Children's Book of the Year Honor (A Kid's Guide to Arab American History), a Sanaka Award and the David Chow Humanitarian Award.

Arlene Hirschfelder is the author or editor of over twenty-five books about Native peoples, including Native Americans: A History in Pictures and The Extraordinary Book of Native American Lists. She and Yvonne Dennis have authored five books together, including the award-winning Children of Native America Today and A Kid's Guide to Native American History. She worked at the Association on American Indian Affairs (a civil rights organization), for over 20 years and has years of experience consulting with publishers, museums, schools, and universities. In addition to being an author, Hirschfelder is series editor of “It Happened to Me” which includes 46 nonfiction books (and still counting) for teen readers and is published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Shannon Rothenberger Flynn has authored lifestyle and design books for Hearst and contributed writing and editorial services to The Native Americans—an Illustrated History, which became a cable network series. She was project editor for the Scholastic Encyclopedia of the North American Indian and served as Native American consultant on books for young readers. Flynn teaches writing at Dutchess Community College and English at Westchester Community College in New York. She also writes and performs stories with the TMI Project in Ulster County, New York, where she lives.