Books like Zorro — picked by fans

Every time I read this one I can hear the voice of Emmanuelle Beulque, my French publisher, while she’s reading it to me. I was in Paris, in Sarbacane’s bureau and this was a new book they were about to translate from the USA. She was so excited about it that she read it to me. Making someone read a book is one of the best things, even when you’re a grown-up.

Zorro is a lovely dog who lives a lovely life. He has his own armchair, his own toys, his own food bowl, and, most important of all, his own time for everything: morning wake up, a morning stroll, nap after lunch. But one day, it comes home a new dog…

This book initially appealed to me because of the title and the dog on the front cover.

As a child, I was a big fan of all things related to the television and movie versions of the character Zorro. He wasn't in this book, but there was someone who left their 'Z' around town, painted on runaway dogs. I enjoyed the developing romance between the local game warden and the determined animal rescue worker, who would eventually figure out the mystery.

The story was well-written and had some great twists and red herrings to enjoy. This book is part of a series and I look forward to checking the other books featuring cozy mysteries involving dogs.

In this exhaustive, deeply researched study, Benjamin Madley examines in grim detail the relentless series of massacres and exterminations of peaceful Native American Indians in California that occurred from 1846 to 1873. During this era, writes Madley, “perhaps 80 percent of all California Indians died.” Survivors, especially children, were often enslaved. 

The brutality is systematic, if not endemic, to the construction of the American empire. Nearly half of the book is comprised of appendices that quantify most known Indian massacres in California during the mid-nineteenth century. (“~April 5, 1846. Number killed: 120-1,000. Location: Close to Reading’s Ranch.”) What emerges is a disturbing portrait of ceaseless violence inflicted by pioneers and settlers, by business owners and hired thugs, and by the state and federal governments against large, sophisticated human populations that had lived in place for thousands of years.

The nearly comprehensive genocide remains rarely invoked in modern times, no matter… show more.

I recall avidly skimming the text in the library soon after it came out. So many new ideas! I was especially excited with its presentation of the Indigenous management of plant habitats by the judicious use of fire.

From the Preface: “I hope that greater understanding of the stewardship legacy left us by California Indians will foster a paradigm shift in our thinking about the state’s past—particularly with regard to wildland fire.” Slowly, researchers across the Great Plains have begun to understand the complex relationship between climate, litter buildup, and human activity, and this book helped that understanding take root.

When I was a little boy, all I wanted to be was an Indian. I have always had an open heart for the underdog, but these dark-skinned people seemed like masters of all woods lore. I wanted those skills for my own.

Now I see the friction between modern Native Americans and modern whites as inevitable, challenging, and wrought with a rotten history of broken promises. When a friendship between a native and a non-native can transcend that history to form a bond strong enough to die for, I am inspired.

What Calloway does for Washington, Wallace does for Jefferson. Even more than Washington, Jefferson talked one game and played another. He could be splendidly eloquent on how much he wanted the Indian nations to become Americans, yet that could only happen, in Jefferson’s mind, if they surrendered their identity as Indians. If anything, the situation was even worse than Wallace suggests, as I point out in detail in my book on William Wells. While there is much to admire about Jefferson, his Indian policy shows how idealism can serve as a front for blatant exploitation and near genocide.  

This is the kind of book you get lost in. My favorite stories almost always include a trail—a journey. And the path followed by Lewis and Clark is, of course, more than just a journey.

I loved experiencing this excursion through the perspective of the heroic young mother. If it weren’t for her, the expedition would have been doomed. I’m long overdue for another read of this book, and I’m looking forward to diving back into it one of these days.

I love the authenticity of this book. The voices are of First Residents, not settlers. It gives the reader the inside story as to what native Oregonians thought of incoming pioneers and how they impacted tribal life. It captures not only the decimation brought on native tribes but also how they reconstructed and revitalized themselves over time. To truly understand Oregon you must understand its native residents - this book accomplishes that in spades!

Buffalo Bill made a movie on the rez about Indians? Geronimo had a Cadillac? Indian rhythms are all over 20th-century classical music? Philip Deloria has a knack for showing us how Indian people usually defy what the media says they are—they turn up in funny places, do remarkable things, and achieve extraordinary results. Many of the Indians in this book aren’t found on the reservation, a reminder that Native people have traveled far and wide to do astonishing things when the spirit of adventure calls.

Barry Lopez is also an author that defies choosing among his many great books about nature, including the renown Of Wolves and Men. Less known is his collection of sixty-eight tales of Old Man Coyote, the Trickster, carefully gathered from forty-two Native American tribes. One might understandably take issue with reading a white man’s version of Native American stories, but give Barry a chance to explain himself in the introduction to the book. Of course, nothing can replace the great oral tradition of Native American storytelling, but short of the real thing, this collection will help you understand the wit and wisdom of the Trickster character.