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A look into the fraught world of Native American-themed romance novels

Let’s talk about Indian romance novels — or so goes the title of a recent piece in High Country News by Indigenous journalist Taylar Dawn Stagner.

In it, she writes about her love of the sometimes corny, sometimes raunchy genre — and how a boom of Native American-themed romance novels that were popular not all that long ago made her think twice.

It all started in a supermarket book aisle where she saw novel covers featuring white men in feather headdresses and unconvincing long black wigs. The Show spoke with Stagner about it.

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Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.