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A review by rachelmariereads
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King
4.0
[The term “Indians” is used in this review because it is the term that King uses.]
This is one of the most important books I’ve ever read. Thomas King is a storyteller and that really comes through in The Inconvenient Indian. There are so many dates, events, treaties, and people talked about in here, but King creates a narrative flow. He’s telling you the story of American Indians, and he often interjects with his own thoughts and stories from his personal life. I could read this a dozen times and take something different away from each read.
There were so many different moments throughout this book that showed me just how little I know about Indigenous People. I really appreciated the way King laid out the book, starting with the lighter, more superficial topics like media portrayals at the beginning, before diving into the horrors that were Indian Residential Schools, and ending with the drawn-out legal battles to do with treaties & land claims. This is clever, because it’s easy to think about Disney’s factually-inaccurate Pocahontas movie, but King masterfully increases the complexity of the topics without the reader even realizing.
I can’t believe we were never taught about Indian Residential Schools. These were aimed at “assimilating” Indians to American culture, and resulted in children being removed from their homes and brought to boarding schools where they were lucky to survive. This is a horrible stain on North American history, and I can’t believe that this book was the first I’d ever heard of it. I also couldn’t believe the amount of times the government decided to go back on its treaties, or ignore them altogether. It’s disheartening but important.
Please read this book if you live in North America. I cannot state enough how disappointed I am in the American education system for failing to teach us about the people who were here first. About the people who’s land we stole, who continue to be marginalized and taken advantage of. This book was so well-written and enlightening, and I feel that everyone in North America needs to understand this history to be a better person and a better citizen.
This is one of the most important books I’ve ever read. Thomas King is a storyteller and that really comes through in The Inconvenient Indian. There are so many dates, events, treaties, and people talked about in here, but King creates a narrative flow. He’s telling you the story of American Indians, and he often interjects with his own thoughts and stories from his personal life. I could read this a dozen times and take something different away from each read.
There were so many different moments throughout this book that showed me just how little I know about Indigenous People. I really appreciated the way King laid out the book, starting with the lighter, more superficial topics like media portrayals at the beginning, before diving into the horrors that were Indian Residential Schools, and ending with the drawn-out legal battles to do with treaties & land claims. This is clever, because it’s easy to think about Disney’s factually-inaccurate Pocahontas movie, but King masterfully increases the complexity of the topics without the reader even realizing.
I can’t believe we were never taught about Indian Residential Schools. These were aimed at “assimilating” Indians to American culture, and resulted in children being removed from their homes and brought to boarding schools where they were lucky to survive. This is a horrible stain on North American history, and I can’t believe that this book was the first I’d ever heard of it. I also couldn’t believe the amount of times the government decided to go back on its treaties, or ignore them altogether. It’s disheartening but important.
Please read this book if you live in North America. I cannot state enough how disappointed I am in the American education system for failing to teach us about the people who were here first. About the people who’s land we stole, who continue to be marginalized and taken advantage of. This book was so well-written and enlightening, and I feel that everyone in North America needs to understand this history to be a better person and a better citizen.