Everything You Know About Indians Is Wrong

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 \u201cthe Indian business.\u201d Raised in suburban Maryland and Oklahoma, Smith dove head first into the political radicalism of the 197 [...]
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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 \u201cthe Indian business.\u201d 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 (\u201ca bad idea whose time has come\u201d) 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 \u201cA Place Called Irony,\u201d Smith whizzes through his early life, showing us the ironic pop culture signposts that marked this Native American\u2019s coming of age in suburbia: \u201cWe 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.\u201d In \u201cLost in Translation,\u201d Smith explores why American Indians are so often misunderstood and misrepresented in today\u2019s media: \u201cWe\u2019re lousy television.\u201d In \u201cEvery Picture Tells a Story,\u201d Smith remembers his Comanche grandfather as he muses on the images of American Indians as \u201ca half-remembered presence, both comforting and dangerous, lurking just below the surface.\u201d Smith walks this tightrope between comforting and dangerous, offering unrepentant skepticism and, ultimately, empathy. \u201cThis book is called Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong, but it\u2019s a book title, folks, not to be taken literally. Of course I don\u2019t mean everything, just most things. And \u2018you\u2019 really means we, as in all of us.\u201d