Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong

出版者:University Of Minnesota Press

作者:Paul Chaat Smith

页数:192

出版时间:2009-4-14

价格:GBP 16.99

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780816656011

具体描述

<DIV>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.”</DIV>

用户评价

阅读这本书的过程，更像是一场智力上的马拉松，作者的叙事逻辑如同精密的瑞士钟表，每一个环节都咬合得天衣无缝，却又在关键时刻抛出一个让人措手不及的转折。我发现自己需要不断地停下来，不是因为内容晦涩难懂，而是因为思绪被那些看似平常却又暗藏玄机的论述拽住了。那些历史的侧面被以前所未有的清晰度呈现在眼前，许多我深信不疑的“常识”，在作者犀利的笔触下，如同脆弱的泡沫般一触即破。我尤其赞赏作者在处理复杂议题时所展现出的那种冷静和克制，没有过度的情绪渲染，完全依靠坚实的论据和严密的推理来引导读者，这使得整个阅读体验充满了智识上的愉悦，如同解开了一个个精心布置的谜题。

这本书对传统叙事框架的颠覆性，是其最令人印象深刻的特质之一。它没有遵循线性叙事的老路子，而是采取了一种近乎碎片化、多视角的构建方式，像是在为你展示一副由无数块镜子折射出的真实图景。每当我以为我即将掌握全局时，作者又巧妙地从一个全新的维度切入，迫使我重新校准我的认知坐标系。这种叙事结构不仅考验了读者的专注力，更重要的是，它有效地模拟了真实世界中信息获取的复杂性和不确定性。这种处理方式，使得即便是对相关领域有所了解的读者，也会发现自己如同初次踏入一片新大陆，每一步都充满了探索的刺激感和发现的喜悦。

这本书的封面设计简直是一场视觉的盛宴，那种大胆的撞色和略带粗粝的排版风格，立刻就抓住我的眼球，让人忍不住想一探究竟。装帧的质感也相当出色，厚实的纸张带着微微的纹理，翻阅起来指尖都能感受到一种沉甸甸的诚意。我尤其欣赏作者在选择字体上的用心，那种既有历史厚重感又不失现代锐利的字体组合，似乎在无声地向读者宣告：这不是一本轻松的读物，它要挑战你固有的认知。拿到手里沉甸甸的感觉，就像是捧着一块等待雕琢的璞玉，充满了未知的可能性。书脊的烫金工艺在光线下闪烁着低调却又无法忽视的光芒，即便是放在书架上，它也散发着一种“请务必阅读我”的强大气场。整体而言，光是外观和触感，就已经值回票价，它成功地营造了一种悬念和期待感，让人迫不及待想要进入其构建的世界。

这本书的语言风格极其鲜明，充满了强烈的个人色彩，仿佛作者正坐在我对面，用一种既亲密又充满挑战性的语气与我对话。它时而如同历史学家的严谨考证，引经据典，滴水不漏；时而又切换到哲学家辩论的犀利锋芒，用反问和悖论来击穿读者的防御。我注意到作者大量使用了一种非常口语化但又极富洞察力的表达方式，这让原本可能枯燥的理论探讨变得生动有趣，充满了活力。这种风格上的跳跃性，使得阅读过程充满了惊喜，你永远不知道下一页会是沉静的分析，还是如同火山爆发般的有力断言。这种变化万千的文字魔力，极大地提升了文本的可读性和持久的回味价值。

如果非要用一个词来形容阅读这本书后的感受，那一定是“精神上的重塑”。它不仅仅是提供新信息，它是在重塑你感知世界的方式。合上书本的那一刻，我发现自己看待周围的人和事物的目光都变得更加审慎和多维了。那种长期浸泡在作者精心构建的思维迷宫中，最终找到出口的成就感，是其他很多书籍难以比拟的。它成功地激发出了一种持续的批判性思维的惯性，让我对那些被社会默认的“既定事实”产生了健康的怀疑和探究欲。这绝对是一本值得反复翻阅，并且每一次重读都能带来新领悟的深度著作，它带来的影响是深远而持久的，绝非昙花一现的阅读体验。