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The Inconvenient Indian
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 of 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. The film won Best Canadian Feature Film at the festival.

Summary
King's work accounts for 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. Each chapter begins with a quotation or a poem. The book covers a wide variety of subjects within ten chapters and a prologue.

Prologue: Warm Toast and Porcupines
The book's prologue gives King's recount of how the book began to be written. He writes about all of the title changes the novel went through, the first being Pesky Redskins: A Curious History of Indians in North America and the final being the title of the book. In the prologue King also writes about topics the rest of the book will not talk about. King also states the terminology he expects to use throughout the novel, such as the usage of the term Indians throughout the book.

Forget Columbus
The chapter's title derives from a suggestion from King's wife, Helen. She says "Just don't start with Columbus", in reference to the many books about North American Indians that start with Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Caribbean. This chapter talks about the unlikeliness that John Smith and Pocahontas developed a romantic relationship, nor even knew eachother, despite popular belief. King lists a variety of factors that lead to this conclusion:


 * Smith does come to Virginia in 1607
 * He is most likely captured by the Powhatan people
 * They let him live
 * Smith is injured in a gunpowder explosion
 * He returns to England in 1609

King believes that there is no indication that Smith ever even met Pocahontas, stating that, at the time, Pocahontas would have been 10-12 years old while Smith would have been 27.The chapter begins with an excerpt from Jeanette Armstrong's poem, "History Lesson".

Happy Ever After
The novel's conclusion ends on an optimistic note, King writes "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."

Reception
The book was met with favorable review upon release. In a review by The Globe and Mail, Richard Wagamese, author of the 2012 novel Indian Horse, wrote "The Inconvenient Indian is less an indictment than a reassurance that we can create equality and harmony. A powerful, important book." The book won the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize and was a finalist for the 2013 Trillium Book Award and the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature.