Reddit mentions of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown was very informative, basically a well-documented account of the interactions and conflicts between western expansionists and the Native Americans they encountered in the latter half of the 19th century.

http://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart-Wounded-Knee/dp/0805066691

If you want to go even more in depth about how much we didn't kill any indians, read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.. it reads like Zinn, but focuses on nothing but US treatment of native americans...

http://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart-Wounded-Knee/dp/0805066691

Tales from the Heart: True Stories from My Childhood by Maryse Condé. Some lovely stories about growing up in Guadeloupe and Paris that resonated with me because my parents had very similar upbringings.

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman. A book of short essays about the joys of reading. When I'm feeling world-weary and have lost all sense of why I read, this book restores it.

I'm not sure if this one counts as a "hidden gem" but I read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee recently and it hurt so much. It's an account of the destruction of the American Indian tribes during the time period 1860-1890, and I think necessary to truly understand American history.

dude.. read a book. actually, read any book.

On the other hand, thanks for the heads up on the tourist trap