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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
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.
samgoertz's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.25
haileyboehner's review against another edition
4.0
I have a hard time giving this review, due to the fact that I am obviously a privileged white descendant of colonizers, and that I look at the information in this book as such an integral and important part of North American history that all community members should be aware of. I also found King's writing phenomenal for the kind of stories he was telling. While the the history is so important and much is horrifying, there is also a lot of heavy legal jargon that one must sort through to get the full picture of how Indigenous communities were(and ARE) treated in North America. King adds humor and satire to a topic that is so difficult to make light of - but he also illustrates his point eloquently. Yet it is legal issues that I really had trouble staying focused on, even when I am extremely interested in the topic.
This book was written a while ago (eight years ago) but still holds relevance today, especially in Canadian news dealing with the pipelines and intrusion to Wet'suwet'en territory this year by the government. It is sickening and horrifying to just see history/government policy(that didn't work in the first place) to cycle over and over again. I sincerely hope that my generation can do better.
4/5
This book was written a while ago (eight years ago) but still holds relevance today, especially in Canadian news dealing with the pipelines and intrusion to Wet'suwet'en territory this year by the government. It is sickening and horrifying to just see history/government policy(that didn't work in the first place) to cycle over and over again. I sincerely hope that my generation can do better.
4/5