The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America

Content Warning: Both the source material and this guide contain extensive discussion of racism against the Indigenous peoples of North America, including the genocide of Indigenous peoples and forced assimilation.

In the Prologue to The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, King introduces the general outlook of the book and its approach to narrating the history of America’s Indigenous peoples. King explains that the title stems from an idea he had for the name of a drum group he had formed with several friends: “The Pesky Redskins” (ix). Though the group chose a different name, King later thought the name could work for his book about the history of Indigenous people in North America. However, King decided to change the title, as he worried that “The Pesky Redskins” might be “too flip” and that a more accurate descriptor for Indigenous people was “inconvenient” (x).

Originally, King wanted to subtitle his book “A Curious History of Native People in North America.” However, his wife and son, both historians, objected to his use of the term “history,” as they feel it is not an accurate description of what King provides in his book. King concedes that his approach to history in the book is less about providing a comprehensive list of facts than about narrating the story of the Indigenous peoples the Americas throughout American history: “[I]f there is any methodology in my approach to the subject, it draws more on storytelling techniques than historiography” (xii).