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Name: The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America : Thomas King: Amazon.ca: Books
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Rating: 4.6 (1483 reviews)

Thomas King

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America Audio CD – Dec 1 2018

by Thomas King (Author)

4.6 1,483 ratings

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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 fifty 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.

Print length

1 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Author's Republic and Blackstone Audio
Publication date

Dec 1 2018
Dimensions

14.73 x 2.79 x 14.22 cm
ISBN-10

1518996604
ISBN-13

978-1518996603
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Product description

About the Author

Thomas King is one of Canada’s premier Native public intellectuals. He was the first Aboriginal person to deliver the prestigious Massey Lectures, and he is the best-selling, award-winning author of six novels, two collections of short stories, and two nonfiction books. The Inconvenient Indian won the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Nonfiction and the RBC Taylor Prize. He is a recipient of the Order of Canada and lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Author's Republic and Blackstone Audio; Unabridged AUDIO edition (Dec 1 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Audio CD ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1518996604
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1518996603
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 90.7 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14.73 x 2.79 x 14.22 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #1,085,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 1,483 ratings

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Thomas King

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Thomas King is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, scriptwriter, and photographer. His many books include the novels Medicine River; Green Grass, Running Water; Truth and Bright Water; two short story collections, One Good Story, That One (Minnesota, 2013) and A Short History of Indians in Canada (Minnesota, 2013); nonfiction, The Truth About Stories (Minnesota, 2005); and the children's books A Coyote Columbus Story, Coyote Sings to the Moon, Coyote's New Suit, and A Coyote Solstice Tale. King edited the literary anthology All My Relations and wrote and starred in the popular CBC radio series, The Dead Dog Café. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), and was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2004. He has taught Native literature and history and creative writing at the University of Lethbridge, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Guelph and is now retired and lives in Guelph, Ontario.

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4.6 out of 5

1,483 global ratings

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4 star		18%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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THECOAST

Great Quality/Awesome Book

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 6, 2023

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This is an amazing book focusing on the history of First Nations/Indigenous people of North America and the impact from colonization and European migration to the Americas. Recommend it to anyone who is interested in the history of the Americas since discovery and the events that occurred.

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Chris Faiers

should be required reading for all North Americans

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 30, 2014

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This summer at PurdyFest #8 we are studying the poetry & legacy of Pauline Johnson as we work our way back through the history of Canadian People's Poetry. A First Nations friend & I were discussing preparations for the upcoming symposium on Johnson, & my friend said she doesn't like Johnson's poetry, & that she feels Johnson was mainly known for her half-Mohawk heritage, a 'professional Indian' so to speak. My friend very strongly recommended as a counter to Johnson that I read the recent book THE INCONVENIENT INDIAN by another First Nations author, Thomas King.

I have duly followed my friend's excellent advice, and I have finished the King book & marked key parts for reference. I am also jumping around enjoying FLINT AND FEATHER: THE COMPLETE POEMS OF E. PAULINE JOHNSON (TEKAHIONWAKE). In the back of my mind, while I'm absorbing the King & Johnson books, is another relevant work I read a few years ago, not long after it was published, A FAIR COUNTRY by John Ralston Saul. Saul is a White man (a term King uses), & his book is more formal & limited in scope than King's, but with a very central & interesting thesis.

So this is a real reading mash-up, which should answer the smaller questions, for me at least, about Johnson's poetic & political legacy & modern relevance. But these books & authors will also help us to frame the much larger issues facing Canadian society, & even the planet. With global climate change bearing down on our tiny blue marble with unforgiving speed, it may well be First Nations & their control of key territories which will help block & stop transnational pipelines, dams, reckless mining & other activities which are the key contributors to this human-caused planetary blight. Rethinking & reforging centuries old alliances among all Peoples is fast becoming a necessity for all human survival. It is obviously the duty of People's Poets to tailor our work & visions for the survival of our planet, or we won't have any future generations around to admire our brilliant poetics ; )

So shoot me for cribbing the following. It's been 3 or 4 years since I read A FAIR COUNTRY: TELLING TRUTHS ABOUT CANADA. This back cover blurb does a great job of summarizing John Ralston Saul's central thesis, & it's in his own words:

We are a people of aboriginal inspiration organized around a concept of peace, fairness and good government. That is what lies at the heart of our story; at the heart of Canadian mythology, whether Francophone or Anglophone. If we can embrace a language that expresses that story, we will feel a great release. We will discover a remarkable power to act and to do so in such a way that we will feel we are true to ourselves.

A central theme of THE INCONVENIENT INDIAN is land. Indians (King's preferred term for First Nations) have been & continue to be inconvenient because they are the original owners of North America. Although most of their territories and nations have been stolen through murder (genocide), forced relocations, deliberate poisonings & sickness, assimilation, Christianity & outright trickery & theft, large swathes of North America remain in the control of First Nations Peoples.

There are many other themes winding through King's blackly humorous historical account of Indian/White relations. King even has ironic fun describing three categories of Indians - those DEAD (e.g. prone to wearing headdresses & feathers), those LIVE (the most inconvenient & annoying, because, well, they're just too damn real & ubiquitous), and those who are LEGAL or STATUS.

Chris Faiers
ZenRiver Gardens

2 people found this helpful

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Dr. CJ ROTHSCHILD

Finally as accurate an accounting of really happened without the speculation and novel bias.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 19, 2022

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Thomas kings books are entertaining because the emotional truths of the characters remind me of the muck rakers of the early 20th century American literature. Those were written in a novel form (I think Dr. King's favourite form) but this is in the form of trying to straighten out mis-history with his self reflective and non arrogant self. As is being said, and I agree, reconciliation is not about guilt and emotion so much as it is a) about truth from an ethical perspective and b) a challenge to the whole of society to include all the citizens in the same ethos then make it stick. This book clearly set my understanding straight about most of the history about first nations in the years following the colonization and attempted inclusion and exclusion of these people. It is also reminiscent of the Howard Fast novels of the mid-20th century.
It ain't happy but it is honest!

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Joe Wenk

An inconvenient confinement

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 15, 2013

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As an expatriate citizen of Switzerland, having arrived in Canada, to wit Montreal, in the miserable weather month of November 1951, I was simply another young refuge boy whose parents were seeking a new start. My history lore of Indians, ergo Natives, ergo Aboriginals was confined to the usual Saturday rituals with my friends of acting out the imaginary wild west of carving bows and arrows from tree branches and pistols from pieces of wood, then re-enacting any convenient battle in the neighbouring woods. My friends "back home" were asking in prose if I "had seen any caribou around where I lived". The view of Canada, indeed North America, was woefully limited.
An author is mentioned by Mr. King by name of Karl May. All the adventures that May put to pen were of his imagination although he was astute in his descriptions of geographical areas, customs of people, etc. This author managed to write 65 books, some in prison, and an entire book of poetry. My father was kind enough to purchase all of them..........in the German language in which I was/am fluent. He said that these books should be read three times during three stages of life. The first as a kid to enjoy the adventures, then in the mid-30's to gain wisdom, lastly in old age to reminisce. This I did. The series of books titled WINNETOU involved an Indian noble and a white man nicknamed Old Shatterhand and their subsequent friendship.
My admiration, utter respect and deep sorrow for the real North Americans, i.e. "Indians" came from reading these books, which covered every aspect of the genocide inflicted upon them by the "Whites". I understand Mr. King's words and feelings. Although the May books are not a creditable recital of truth and consequences, they are after all only novels of adventure, but reading between the lines was the education of my mind. I began to see matters for what they were and are. There are parallels, such as the Raj in India, South Africa, Rhodesia, Polynesia, Australia, indeed also the black race in our own backyard, and more. The Whites were not alone in their fury, the Japanese had their own agenda, and once we get into religious-com-racial subjects, then the Hitler approach was an example of maniacal proportions.
I have no, and can offer no, solutions for the future. Attempting to turn back history to day one cannot be done. I can only hope the future will resolve itself into something acceptable to both sides. Perhaps it will be easier with successive future generations. Too late for me to see. At 73 years of age I must accept the status quo. As Mr. King's legitimate bitterness lingers, so does mine alongside his. I wish I had his eloquence, if so, I would write my own book, perhaps titled "The Pestilence of the White Race".

6 people found this helpful

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El Patton

Entertaining and Amusig

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 28, 2022

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This book blows away so much of what are common misconceptions about the interaction between the North American natives and the Europeans who came later. It does it in an entertaining and humorous way. It's a real learning experience.

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Serge L.

Terrible truths in a palatable way.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 3, 2022

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It is good to read the perspective of the people victimized by the non-coloured throughout Canadian history. Like the author says it is an account not a history, however it is a summary of important events and the consequences to the “Indian”. It is a dry humour and sometimes sardonic description of what it means to be treated as an inconvenience and if you truly did not know, after reading this book, you will know.

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M A Logan

A useful insight from a easy-reading writer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 17, 2018

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This is an excellent work and well worth a read. Thomas King captures the tragedy and unfairness, yet somehow adds occasional lightness and wry humour to what might easily have become an angry rant. It made me think that there may be similarities to the Highland Clearances in Scotland and more recent or ancient events around the world.

4 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Every white American , Canadian and European should read and understand this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 27, 2021

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Detailed chronicle of the parlous and underhand treatment of the indigenous populations of the North American continent, from the time of first encounters to the present day and sadly, still ongoing. Told with humour and without rancour.

One person found this helpful

Fussy Buyer

Excellent read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 14, 2018

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Excellent read highly recommend.

One person found this helpful

Eagle Dreamer

great book, very interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 17, 2015

Verified Purchase

great book,very interesting.

2 people found this helpful

Lene Trunjer

... an important book to read -- and I really love how Thomas King has a way of telling the ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is an important book to read -- and I really love how Thomas King has a way of telling the painful truth in a storytelling kind of way!

4 people found this helpful

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