Becoming Little Shell : A Landless Indian's Journey Home

A People Magazine "Best New Book of the Month"Winner of the 2025 Pacific Northwest Book AwardA Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction of the Year SelectionA Book Riot "Best Memoirs, Nonfiction Science, and Food Writing of the Last Year"“I’m in awe of Chris La Tray’s storytelling.Becoming Little Shell creates a multilayered narrative from threads of personal, family, community, tribal, and national histories.”-Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding SweetgrassGrowing up in Montana, Chris La Tray always identified as Indian.Despite the fact that his father fiercely denied any connection, he found Indigenous people alluring, often recalling his grandmother’s consistent mention of their Chippewa heritage. When La Tray attended his grandfather’s funeral as a young man, he finally found himself surrounded by relatives who obviously were Indigenous. “Who were they?” he wondered, and “Why was I never allowed to know them?” Combining diligent research and compelling conversations with authors, activist