Funny, honest, and devastating. A well-written book by a professor of the subject clearly knows how to keep students/readers engaged.

A breezy, conversational, and crushing overview of the relationship that First Peoples in North America (principally Canada and the US) have had with European settlers and their governments over the years. Despite King's friendly, funny, chatty tone (or perhaps exacerbated by it), the book is case after case of misdeeds that range from massive fraud to all-out-atrocity. It's not just that the system of the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and settlers is rotten, it's that it was fundamentally flawed from the beginning, and it's only gotten worse.

On the one hand, I would have loved to have learned more about each of the cases King raises, because I feel as though he skims across so many histories so quickly that I'm not left with a great sense of the specifics, though that's not his goal. His goal is to prove that settlers and their governments have never had any plan of keeping any promises with Aboriginal people, and have concerned themselves primarily with the value of the land on which those people live, which they intend to have themselves. That much comes across loud and clear and despairing.

That said, I noticed one significant error in the text with regard to the James Bay Crees of Eeyou Istchee--they successfully fought the damming of the Great Whale River, which he claims was dammed. My suspicion was that he was thinking of La Grande River, which DID get dammed under James Bay I in the 1970s. Because of that, I wondered how well the book was fact-checked and whether any of the other arguments were loose. Nonetheless, the book itself is powerful and necessary. I intend to recommend it widely.

Well written, engaging, sobering, embarrassing. So embarrassing. ☹️

Thomas King's folksy, mournful, darkly funny prose style invites comparison to two great satirists -- Twain and Vonnegut -- but with even less sentimentality and a narrower focus on the plight (and future) of Native North Americans on both sides of the US-Canada border. King coins or appropriates humorous meme-phrases like "Dead Indian / Live Indian / Legal Indian" and "The End of the Trail" as a means of developing his ideas and burning them into your brain. The author's rhythm, humor, and self-deprecating _presence_ throughout rescue this book from being simply a laundry list of atrocities. A good first book for anyone interested in Native American issues.

When I announced to my family that I was going to write a book about Indians in North America, Helen said, "Just don't start with Columbus." She always gives me good advice. And I always give it my full consideration.

In October of 1492, Christopher Columbus...

So it turns out the last 500 years haven't been that great for the indigenous people of North America. Quite a disconcerting tale even. Probably worse than that if you're the one who's been exterminated, assimilated, disenfranchised, unwillingly franchised and, most constantly, expropriated from. You might take it badly.

Most of us think that history is the past. It's not. History is the stories we tell about the past.

So here's some stories. It's not pretty. And if there is a weakness to this book, it's easy for a reviewer to say "I knew nothing about this subject and this book really opened my eyes to the injustices visited on Native Americans. 5 stars." And on your merry way, perhaps somewhat more self aware, yet leaving any meaningful action to the various administrative bodies, often in the pocket of private interests that continue to undermine Native Rights.

Anyway, I knew nothing about this subject and this book really opened my eyes to the injustices visited on Native Americans. 5 stars.

The Inconvenient Indian provides citations for breaches of faith and law, a tome of injustices in 266 pages, even though 26,000 would not be sufficient. You can pick so many things to be vicariously angry about. Death rates in the native schools got up to 50 percent in some places. That's such a staggeringly high proportion that you forget that the lower rates elsewhere differed only by matter of degree rather than magnitude.

You can't judge the past by the present. One of history's grand maxims. It's convenient, and its specious.

This book isn't angry. It's wry, it's dry, it's expertly written by a professional historian who made an abortive attempt to join the Siege of Wounded Knee (not the Massacre, which was sometime before). And it's unfair to expect a book to be a call to arms. After all, we know nothing about the subject.

But I think you have to get angry. A little. It's good to know more, and to want to know more, but actions continue to be done in our name and we sit mutely when indigenous protests happen because it doesn't affect us directly (such as Ihumātao in my country).

Don't just judge the past by the present. Just your actions now, because, as The Inconvenient Indian shows, it's still happening.

I enjoyed the book as it detailed the litany of remorseless injustices by both American and Canadian federal governments. I appreciated the way he categorized 'Indian' by the white man's characterization through several chapters. Author doesn't get lost in dates but leaves names of important Native American's who did not or have not received their due. The book culminates in several important strategies and never strays from the appreciation of an approach to life associated with sustainability and not wreaking havoc on the environment, animals and people.

Given the enormity of incidents an exact historical account would entail, this is a very readable account for a fairly ignorant reader like myself. King uses more of a shotgun approach linking selected incidences to portray patterns of historical behavior towards American indigenous peoples. Very interesting and recommended.

If all history were this engagingly written, I would have been a lot more interested in high school. He puts the STORY in history. I learned a great deal about Native experiences with the governments of US and Canada.

An exceptionally open and unapologetic look at the history and current state of First Nations peoples in Canada. Thomas King's writing style is clear and impossible to misunderstand. Much of what he writes about is uncomfortable, unpleasant, and shameful to read...and it should be because the treatment of Canada's First Nations has been and continues to be absolutely awful.

I got the audio book and finished it 2 days ago and I am ready to listen to it again. If you want to know exactly how we are treating Native Americans in North America then read this. Then when you're done reading it go lend your voice and money to your local native community.