Synopses & Reviews
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.
Synopsis
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."
Synopsis
Entertaining, humorous and unabashedly opinionated,
Happy Trails: A Curious Account of Indians in North America examines North America's relationship with Native people through historical events and figures as well as film, activism, pop culture, legislation, policy, treaties, and the unifying concept of "Native land.
"Happy Trails is at once a history in the traditional sense, and the subversion of such a history--in other words, a critical and personal conversation that the brilliant Thomas King has had with himself over the last fifty years about what it means to be Indian. Rich with light, pain and magic, this book is truly Native history from a Native perspective, and an indespensable and ultimately hopeful account for all of us, Indian and non-Indian alike, seeking to understand how we might create a new pattern for the future together.
About the Author
THOMAS KING is one of Canada's premier Native public intellectuals. For the past five decades, he has worked as an activist for Native causes, as an administrator in Native programs, and has taught Native literature and history at universities in the U.S. and Canada. King was the first Aboriginal person to deliver the prestigious Massey Lectures, and is also the bestselling, award-winning author of five novels and two collections of short stories.