As informative as it was evocative and driven by the author's casual and humorous style of story telling.

Thomas King is funny, blunt and informative. I'm ashamed at how little I knew, and probably still only know, but, worse, by all the myths/stereotypes/so-called if-only solutions I might have agreed with. Excellent book, dense, and, dare I say, required reading.

Thomas King, a Cherokee professor who has lived in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, writes about his own experience of being indigenous in these countries, particularly in North America. He writes about the history of Indigenous Peoples in a witty, sarcasting and at times very biting manner. Ouch a lot for us white folk. Not only for what has happened in the far past, but for what has happened in the near past and for our ignorance of most of it. As a US resident, I appreciated also learning about Canada and the issues Indigenous Peoples have had there as well. All not good. I appreciated the many interjections by his wife, Helen, that helped ease some of the tension just enough that you could digest it. Thank you, Helen. In a year when there has been a lot of emphasis on white people examining their treatment of African Americans, it is important to see our prejudice, overt racism and cultural cleansing on another group of people. It's time to open our eyes, own up to it all and change.

I had a little bit of time deciding whether to read this. King's tone reminds me of Bill Bryson -- kind of folksy and chatty with a sardonic sense of humor, and a sharp keen observational eye. However, I'm fairly ambivalent about Bill Bryson, so I wasn't sure I would stick it out, but I'm relieved I did, and I plan to buy the book, as well.

It ended up feeling like hanging out in the living room with your retired professor grandpa. On social media, if you were to ask a Native influencer for background information they might (justifiably) tell you to Google it. However, they could also tell you to read King. This book is such a sweeping review of Native history that gave me more insight into the predicament white governments have created in their continual disregard for Native rights.