Anthropological & Historical Perspectives:
- Mircea Eliade – Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (a foundational academic work on shamanism worldwide)
- Michael Harner – The Way of the Shaman (pioneered "core shamanism" in the West)
- Carlos Castaneda – The Teachings of Don Juan (controversial but influential accounts of his apprenticeship with a Yaqui shaman)
Spiritual & Practical Approaches:
- Sandra Ingerman – Soul Retrieval (modern shamanic healing techniques)
- Alberto Villoldo – Shaman, Healer, Sage (Peruvian shamanism & energy medicine)
- Eliot Cowan – Plant Spirit Medicine (connection between shamanism and plant intelligence)
- John Perkins – Shapeshifting (personal experiences with Amazonian shamans)
Mythology & Comparative Religion:
- Joseph Campbell – The Hero with a Thousand Faces (not explicitly about shamanism but deeply related)
- David Lewis-Williams – The Mind in the Cave (shamanism and prehistoric cave art)
Indigenous & Traditional Voices:
- Martín Prechtel – Secrets of the Talking Jaguar (Guatemalan Mayan shamanism)
- Black Elk (as told to John Neihardt) – Black Elk Speaks (Lakota shamanic visions and teachings)
- Malidoma Patrice Somé – Of Water and the Spirit (West African Dagara shamanic initiation)