The Inconvenient Indian

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The Inconvenient Indian
First edition cover
AuthorThomas King
PublisherDoubleday Canada
Publication date
November 13, 2012
Awards
ISBN978-0-385-66421-9

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America is a book by American-Canadian author Thomas King, first published in 2012 by Doubleday Canada. It presents a history of Indigenous peoples in North America. The book has been adapted into a documentary film titled Inconvenient Indian directed by Michelle Latimer, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2020.

Summary

King's work is an account of the history of indigenous rights and treaties in North America. He notes the portrayal of indigenous peoples in popular media as having contributed greatly to public knowledge of North American Indians. The book ends on the following note: "If the last five hundred years are any indication, what the Native people of North America do with the future should be very curious indeed."

Publication history

  • King, Thomas (November 13, 2012). The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. ISBN 978-0-385-66421-9. OCLC 791164629.
  • King, Thomas (February 17, 2014). L’Indien malcommode : un portrait inattendu des Autochtones d’Amérique du Nord. Translated by Daniel Poliquin. Boréal. ISBN 978-2-764-62259-9.
  • King, Thomas (October 17, 2017). The Inconvenient Indian Illustrated: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 978-0-385-69017-1.

Reception

Reviews

Publishers Weekly referred to The Inconvenient Indian as "intelligent and eye-opening". They highlighted how "King demonstrates with sharp and swift strokes how the U.S. and Canada have repeatedly treated Natives as an inconvenience, an obstacle to be rid of, moved, or carefully rounded up, then reimagined altogether. It’s also a book that charts how such injustices are often replaced by kinder, more audience-friendly historical narratives".[1]

According to Kirkus Reviews, King's "wit and storytelling talent make the book easy to read; more importantly, his humor may keep readers from wanting to scream at the injustices".[2] Publishers Weekly similarly noted how King "scathes, chides, and often pokes fun" throughout the book, which "suffers from a unilaterally sardonic tone that seethes with understandable indignation but leaves too little space for hope or progress".[1]

Kirkus Reviews concluded that, despite having "way too many lists", The Inconvenient Indian is "a solid book and a good look at what can be done in the future of Indian-white relations".[2]

Awards and honours

In 2015, The Inconvenient Indian was nominated for the Canada Reads competition,[3] where it was defended by Craig Kielburger.[4] It won the Canada Reads foreshadowing event from the Lennoxville Library, defended by Tim Belford.[5]

Awards for The Inconvenient Indian
Year Award Result Ref.
2013 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction Nominated [6]
NAISA Prize for Best Subsequent Book Won [7]
Trillium Book Award Finalist [8]
2014 British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction Won [6][9]
Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature Finalist [10]
Governor General's Award for English to French translation Won [11]
RBC Taylor Prize Won [6][9]

Adaptations

The Inconvenient Indian was adapted into a documentary film titled Inconvenient Indian directed by Michelle Latimer, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2020.[12] The film won Best Canadian Feature Film at the festival.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b "The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King". Publishers Weekly. July 15, 2013. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "The Inconvenient Indian". Kirkus Reviews. July 14, 2013. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  3. ^ "Canada Reads 2015: The Inconvenient Indian". CBC Books. 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  4. ^ "The Inconvenient Indian". CBC Books. February 8, 2017. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  5. ^ ""The Inconvenient Indian" wins Lennoxville's Canada Reads". CBC Books. 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "Thomas King wins $25K RBC Taylor Prize for non-fiction". CBC News. March 10, 2014. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  7. ^ "PREVIOUS PUBLICATION AWARD WINNERS · Native American and Indigenous Studies Association". Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  8. ^ "2013 Trillium Book Award Finalists Announced". Open Book: Toronto. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Ahearn, Victoria (November 18, 2014). "Thomas King wins Governor General's Literary Award for fiction - Toronto". Global News. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  10. ^ "Thomas King, Bev Sellars among finalists for 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature". Quill and Quire. September 3, 2014. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  11. ^ Cerny, Dory (November 18, 2014). "Thomas King and Michael Harris give HarperCollins Canada Governor General's double win". Quill & Quire. Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  12. ^ "Inconvenient Indian". TIFF. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  13. ^ "Toronto: Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' Wins Audience Award | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. September 20, 2020. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
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