We the Women
Norah O'Donnell, Kate Andersen Brower
Shares the History genre and themes
The Inconvenient Indian
by Thomas King
Thomas King's blend of memoir, history, and sharp cultural criticism shows how the word 'Indian' and a century of law and popular myth shaped Native lives, delivered with anger and wit.
What It's About
The Inconvenient Indian is Thomas King's attempt to explain why the word "Indian" carries so much weight in North America and why the relationship between Indigenous peoples and everyone else keeps circling back on itself. King, a Cherokee-Greek writer and novelist, works across essay, memoir, history, and cultural criticism, so the book moves freely from treaties and government policy to Hollywood Westerns and his own experiences with activism.
The style is conversational and digressive rather than a tidy argument. King retells familiar stories with a twist, pulling apart the myths that non-Native people repeat about their own past, and he keeps returning to the same questions from new angles. The tone swings between anger and dry humour, which keeps the book readable even when the material is grim. Expect to read it as an extended conversation with a frank, well-informed guest rather than a textbook.
The experience is uneven in a way that suits the subject. Some passages are sharper and more focused than others, and the book builds toward a cautious hope about telling different stories. It rewards patience and rereading, especially for readers who already know some of the history it touches.
Read this if you…
- want a personal, opinionated look at how Canadian and American policy shaped Native lives
- enjoy essayistic books that move between history, memoir, and pop culture
- are willing to sit with anger and hard history but want some wit along the way
Skip it if you…
- want a neutral, comprehensive survey of Indigenous history with clear chronology
- prefer tightly structured arguments and find digressions frustrating
Key Ideas
- 1
The word Indian as a legal label
King argues that "Indian" is less a description of people than a category shaped by law, policy, and bureaucracy. Seeing how that category was built and reshaped helps explain why Native people are treated the way they are today, and why the label itself remains contested.
- 2
Stories settlers tell about themselves
King examines how popular narratives, especially Westerns and film, shape what non-Native audiences believe about Native history. He shows how these stories quietly justify the outcomes they depict, and how often they replace the actual record with something more comfortable.
- 3
Treaties and laws that keep shifting
King explores the cumulative effect of changing treaties and legislation on land and sovereignty. His central point is that much of the damage came from a long accumulation of small legal moves rather than a single dramatic event, which makes it harder to name and easier to ignore.
- 4
Personal experience alongside political argument
King mixes his own activism and experiences with historical analysis, so abstract questions become concrete. His uncertainties and frustrations stay on the page, which makes the argument feel lived-in rather than delivered from a distance.
- 5
Telling a new story without naivety
The book's closing argument is that change depends on retelling history honestly and giving Native perspectives real weight. King rejects easy reconciliation narratives and asks readers to do harder work of understanding how the old stories still shape present decisions.
Limitations
The book is most grounded in Canadian and American history, so readers looking for other Indigenous contexts will find less here. Its structure is loose, and some sections feel repetitive or only loosely connected to the main argument. Critics sometimes find King's anger and polemical tone overwhelming, and some of the film and pop culture references feel dated. Readers wanting a balanced or scholarly account should look for additional sources.
Questions Readers Ask
- Is The Inconvenient Indian a good starting point for learning about Indigenous history?
- It can be, but it works best as a companion to more systematic histories rather than a first and only source. King assumes some familiarity with the events he discusses, and his essayistic approach means you will need to look up details yourself. Use it to sharpen your questions and to hear an Indigenous voice reflecting on what the history means.
- How does it compare to King's earlier book The Truth About Stories?
- The Truth About Stories is more focused on storytelling itself, using creation narratives and the idea that stories shape how we live. The Inconvenient Indian is more directly political, centring on law, treaties, and the word Indian. Readers who liked King's wit in the earlier book will find it again here, but with a sharper, angrier edge.
- Is the book still relevant today?
- Largely yes, because the legal and cultural questions it raises remain unresolved in Canada and the United States. Some of the specific film and political references are tied to their time, so parts may feel dated. The core argument about how old stories and legal categories shape present realities still reads as current.
- Published
- 2013
- ISBN
- 9780385664226
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Category
- History
Book details and cover from Google Books.
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