The Inconvenient Indian

Posted on 15 October 2018 by Thomas King

WINNER of the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize The Inconvenient Indian is at once a history and the complete subversion of a history in short, a critical and personal meditation that the remarkable Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be Indian in North America Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other In the process, King refashions old stories about historical events and figures, takes a sideways look at film and pop culture, relates his own complex experiences with activism, and articulates a deep and revolutionary understanding of the cumulative effects of ever shifting laws and treaties on Native peoples and lands This is a book both timeless and timely, burnished with anger but tempered by wit, and ultimately a hard won offering of hope a sometimes inconvenient, but nonetheless indispensable account for all of us, Indian and non Indian alike, seeking to understand how we might tell a new story for the future From the Hardcover edition. Download The Inconvenient Indian – kino-fada.fr I learned a lot from this and was blown away by King s ability to compress so much history by focusing on a limited set of themes King does a great service in explaining the long history of Indian White relations in North America so clearly and in using the sweep of the tragic failures to urge us all to do better in the future This is no dry history, but a personalized account I also appreciated his cushioning of uncomfortable truths with ironic humor and a sense that we are all facing the pr I learned a lot from this and was blown away by King s ability to compress so much history by focusing on a limited set of themes King does a great service in explaining the long history of Indian White relations in North America so clearly and in using the sweep of the tragic failures to urge us all to do better in the future This is no dry history, but a personalized accoun...Tough one to review King explicitly states at the outset it will be his own personal approach to a topic that spans 500 years, consists of hundreds if not thousands of independent tribes not a heterogeneous group call them First Nations, Aboriginals, Native Americans, or Indians, as he prefers , and is fraught with legal, political, tribal and even linguistic complexity that crosses ...Great read If the content wasn t so devastating it d be a hilarious book Thomas King is a skilled writer who magnificently rabbit trails through 500 years of Indian Settler history with his entertaining, laconic wit, unique eye and keen intelligence Although it s a bit of an uncomfortable read if you happen to be as I am a white, Christian male King, at one point refers to Christianity as the gateway drug to supply side capitalism OuchRead about the white creation of the universa Great read If the content wasn t so devastating it d be a hilarious book Thomas King is a skilled writer who magnificently rabbit trails through 500 years of Indian Settler history with his entertaining, laconic wit, unique eye and keen intelligence Although it s a bit of an uncomfortable read if you happen to be as I am a white, Christian male King, at one point refers to Christianity as the gateway drug to supply side capitalism OuchRead about the white creation of the universal Indian Hollywood Indian Hobbyists Dead Indian Live Ind...The Inconvenient Indian is, as it states, an account of some events that have occurred in the history of the Native people of North America It isn t necessarily a chronological history, butof a layman s introductory guide into this subject So for a reader such as myself, this book was the perfect place to start.The book covers a wide variety of topics such as mis representation of Indians in Hollywood, implications of mandatory residential schools, temporary treaties, wars, the mis con The Inconvenient Indian is, as it states, an account of some events that have occurred in the history of the Native people of North Ame...Truth be told, I expected a littlethan this out of Thomas King, one of Canada s premier Native public intellectuals as described on the book s jacket At the very least, we have a most disingenuous account of the Indian in North America but then we do have King s own apologia on the topic which at great length describes why this is an account, and not a history Point well made, indeed, for he playsthan a little fast and loose with North American history as a whole.Th Truth be told, I expected a littlethan this out of Thomas King, one of Canada s premier Native public intellectuals as described on the book s jacket At the very least, we have a most disingenuous account of the Indian in North America but then we do have King s own apologia on the topic which at great length describes why this is an account, and not a history Point well made, indeed, for he playsthan a little fast and loose with North American history as a whole.The history of European contact with First Nations is indeed bloody, at times unfortunate for certain tragic, by many accounts as are all colonizing confrontations The Europeans, or The Whites, as King insists on calling them, ran roughshod over many nations, North American Indians included, and so they shoul...For me at least, writing a novel is buttering warm toast, while writing a history is herding porcupines with your elbowsI might never have read this book, had it not been a selection for my real life book club I thoroughly enjoyed the author s novel The Back of the Turtle last year it was one of my 5 star selections His humour and style are both very ap...Just last week, CBC News announced it was closing comments on articles about indigenous peoples, because at the moment, it cannot guarantee sufficient moderation to sustain polite discourse In addition to the usual trolls, some people were writing hate speech motivated by a misconception of the state of indigenous peoples in Canada And while this is reprehensible, it probably shouldn t be surprising We white people are very good at ignoring indigenous people until we want their land, that is Just last week, CBC News announced it was closing comments on articles about indigenous peoples, because at the moment, it cannot guarantee sufficient moderation to sustain polite discourse In addition to the usual trolls, some people were writing hate speech motivated by a misconception of the state of indigenous peoples in Canada And while this is reprehensible, it probably shouldn t be surprising We white people are very good at ignoring indigenous people until we want their land, that is.The Inconvenient Indian A Curious Account of Native People in North America is Thomas King s attempt to make some kind of sense of the conflicting narratives and myths created about the European occupation of North America I approached this book as someone who is interested in gaining a deeper awareness of indigenous perspectives on indigeno...A reader looking for a history of Native Americans in Canada and the United States it is that should be aware that this work is better labeled a book of essays written by a Native American focusing on the injustices that occurred after whites discovered the continent And King does a good job of it It s a continuously bleak topic, but he interjects humorous asides and anecdotes to make it bearable There will likely be many, many detractors arguing how opinionated King is, or that he didn t b A reader looking for a history of Native Americans in Canada and the United States it is that should be aware that this work is better labeled a book of essays written by a Native American focusing on the injustices that occurred after whites discovered the continent And King does a good job of...so Tom King and i can call him that cause everyone in Guelph knows him as Tom rather than Thomas is very upfront about the fact that this is a personal story for him yes, he says, there are facts documented 100% accurate historically documented facts within The Inconvenient Indian.but as a First Nations story teller, he knows you will never get the whole picture from facts alone and he is happy to add the filling between the facts a filling rich in his experiences and impressi so Tom King and i can call him that cause everyone in Guelph knows hi...I have never read any of Thomas King s fiction This is a curious omission, given how much I ve liked the other media of his I ve run across, from the Massey Lecture The Trouble With Stories to the halcyon days when the CBC Radio ran The Dead Dog Cafe The episode where Gracie and Jasper were writing political slogans will always be near and dear to my heart I still know the Stockwell Day one off by heart Note The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy I have never read any of Thomas King s fiction This is a curious omission, given how much I ve liked the other media of his I ve run across, from the Mass...

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15 October 2018

Thomas King