In this sweeping work of memoir and commentary, leading cultural
critic Paul Chaat Smith illustrates with dry wit and brutal honesty
the contradictions of life in "the Indian business."
Raised in suburban Maryland and Oklahoma, Smith dove head first
into the political radicalism of the 1970s, working with the
American Indian Movement until it dissolved into dysfunction and
infighting. Afterward he lived in New York, the city of choice for
political exiles, and eventually arrived in Washington, D.C., at
the newly minted National Museum of the American Indian ("a bad
idea whose time has come") as a curator. In his journey from
fighting activist to federal employee, Smith tells us he has
discovered at least two things: there is no one true representation
of the American Indian experience, and even the best of intentions
sometimes ends in catastrophe. "Everything You Know about Indians
Is Wrong" is a highly entertaining and, at times, searing critique
of the deeply disputed role of American Indians in the United
States. In "A Place Called Irony," Smith whizzes through his early
life, showing us the ironic pop culture signposts that marked this
Native American's coming of age in suburbia: "We would order
Chinese food and slap a favorite video into the machine--the Grammy
Awards or a Reagan press conference--and argue about Cyndi Lauper
or who should coach the Knicks." In "Lost in Translation," Smith
explores why American Indians are so often misunderstood and
misrepresented in today's media: "We're lousy television." In
"Every Picture Tells a Story," Smith remembers his Comanche
grandfather as he muses on the images of American Indians as "a
half-remembered presence, both comforting and dangerous, lurking
just below the surface."
Smith walks this tightrope between comforting and dangerous,
offering unrepentant skepticism and, ultimately, empathy. "This
book is called "Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong," but
it's a book title, folks, not to be taken literally. Of course I
don't mean everything, just most things. And 'you' really means we,
as in all of us."
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