From a craft standpoint, telling a story in the first-person present tense over the course of 500 pages is a daunting challenge.

During World War I the Canadians were the shock troops. In many historical cases, Canadians have been very proficient at killing, and doing what we have to in order to survive. But no one wants to acknowledge that fact.

Sometimes, it's not getting what we want that offers us the most important Lessons

There's a few scholars that object to how the italicized sections suggest that Native people are to take some part in the blame for how colonization occurred. But I say, "Yes they are." Not nearly as much blame as the colonizers, of course. But we are not just victims. I hate this idea that we are all just victimized and oppressed and etcetera etcetera. It's dehumanizing in its own way.

The beliefs of Native people are no less powerful or important just because they focus on a different "form of magic."

The history needs to serve the story, not the story the history. But at the same time you can't stray too far.

Fascinating, often hilarious, always devastatingly truthful, The Inconvenient Indian is destined to become a classic of historical narrative. For those who wish to better understand Native peoples, it is a must read. For those who don't wish to understand, it is even more so.