Gloria Steinem in 2011. Photo by Ms. Foundation for Women via Flickr

Author, activist and feminist Gloria Steinem is recommending two books for people who want to know why Indian history and culture isn't being taught in America.

In an interview with The New York Times, Steinem urges readers to pick up Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World by Jack Weatherford. The book details the often-overlooked contributions Indian people made to agriculture, modern medicine and governmental institutions.

Steinem also recommends The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by the late Paula Gunn Allen. The book discusses the important roles of women in tribal societies, evidence of which was often downplayed or ignored by outsiders.

Steinem and the late Wilma Mankiller, who was the first woman to lead the Cherokee Nation, were close friends. She just published her own memoirs, My Life on the Road.

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Gloria Steinem: By the Book (The New York Times 11/1)