Summer came –and just in time. With my kids home from school — “mom” is my day job –my halcyon spring weeks of archival research are at an end. This blog has been strangely quiet for a great reason: I was blessed with an amazing research streak. What we don’t know about ourselves could–will, I hope –fill another book. Until then, my finds are filed, not blogged.

A pile of books to read (or reread) stands on my library table, awaiting amalgamation into the whole. In case you’re looking for a few that may show up on no other blogger’s list of beach-reading:

Dammed Indians Revisited by Michael J. Lawson (2009)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2009)

Skull Wars: Kenniwick Man, Archaeology and the Battle for Native American Identity, David Hurst Thomas (2001)

The Story of America: Essays on Origins, Jill Lepore (2012)

Reflections of A Culture Broker: The View from the Smithsonian, Richard Kurin (1997)

Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums, Amy Lonetree (2012)

E Pluribus Barnum: The Great Showman and the Making of U.S. Pop Culture, Bluford Adams (1997)

The Walleye War: The Struggle for Ojibwe Spearfishing and Treaty Rights, Larry Nesper (2002)

Believe it or not, these books have things in common: they come recommended by friends, and they trace the connections between the historical past and the modern present.

Fold into archival research, and stir.