The Truth About Stories

Just finished reading The Truth About Stories:  A Native Narrative by Thomas King. It's a fine set of essays of particular interest to readers of this blog. An Amazon.com reviewer summarized it well:This book is fantastic! The first chapter alone is a must read for everyone you know, and could change your life. About how the kinds of stories we tell can be paradigm-shifting. Deals with the romanticized notion of native americans (see also Edward Said's book ORIENTALISM), how an invented idea of "indian" has been used and abused by the u.s. in hypocritical ways, and how the stories we hear and tell about ourselves shape our identity. Lots of very sad facts about native american history in its relationship with the US government. The book is set up in a kind of spiral with a recurring story told in different ways at the beginning of each chapter. This book is really for everyone--not just those with an interest in native americans. The stories we are telling in America today are globally destructive and negative--let's start fresh with some positive stories to turn this country around--we are all on this planet together.Rob's rating:  8.0 of 10. Check it out.