He's in his mid-fifties, he's a Native American--West Coast--and he's led a really tough life.
                      What should I send him?

Being from Oz I may have missed a vital piece of context and I'm trying to avoid any sense of disparagement; are you requesting a preferred or limited set of topics for your friend?

If variety is what you're looking for, a quick scan through the thread should give you a host of recommendations with only the occasional critical comment. If your friend likes reading but has a limited ability/vocabulary/etc I suspect you could still pull out quite a few suitable books from the ones listed in the thread.

Best of luck!

Cheers, Rowan