Falvey Library’s Dig Deeper series explores topics of importance in our society and the news. It connects these subjects with resources available through the Library, so our faculty, students, and staff can explore and learn more, potentially sparking new research and scholarship.

The 74th annual National Book Awards Ceremony was held last week on Wednesday, Nov. 15. The National Book Awards are literary awards overseen by the National Book Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to “celebrate the best literature published in the United States, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture.” The Awards are granted in five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. Winners receive $10,000 along with a bronze statute.

This year, the National Book Award for Nonfiction was given to Ned Blackhawk for his book The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, which Falvey has digitally. This book is a reexamination of American history with Native Americans at the forefront. Blackhawk argues for the role Indigenous people played, and continued to play, in the development of democracy and the US as a nation. He showcases the strength and agency of Native communities in the face of violence and removal, and he outlines their ongoing efforts to regain autonomy.

Photo by Dan Renzetti

Ned Blackhawk is a historian from the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada. He is the Howard R. Lamar Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University. He graduated from McGill University and received graduate degrees in History from the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Washington. In addition to The Rediscovery of America, Blackhawk also wrote Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the early American West (also available for checkout at the Library), which studies the Great Basin tribes during the fight for the American West. His articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications such as The New York Times Book Review, American Quarterly, Reviews in American History, The American Historical Review, Ethnohistory, and The American Indian Culture and Research Journal.

Rebecca Amrick is a first year graduate student in the English Department and a Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.