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hadidee's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant, biting, frequently funny and suffused with anger.
bosborough's review against another edition
5.0
As informative as it was evocative and driven by the author's casual and humorous style of story telling.
missshelb3's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
This book encourages you to look at alternative perspectives and throw out old assumptions that are based on one-sided narratives. Highly recommend.
laraph's review against another edition
5.0
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.
donnawr1's review against another edition
4.0
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.
ellenmc07's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.25
A blind pick from one of my shelves and I never realized just how much I don't like lists. This is a little joke that Thomas King even makes in the book but, with all the lists he provides, it illuminates so much of North American History I had no perspective on. I loved his humour and coverage of many different facets of Indigenous culture and history. A great book to have for reference and education.
sumwab's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
“the fact of native lives is that we live modern lives informed by traditional values and contemporary realities, and that we wish to live those lives on our terms” another hit from thomas king. mandatory setter read because even i learned new things i never knew before!!!! love!!!
keegan_rellim_taylor's review against another edition
5.0
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.
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.