A Short History of Indians in CanadaA Short History of Indians in Canada

Postcolonial thought in this collection of short stories weighs some with polemic making them political first and art second. The politics range from cross-cultural adoption issues, to the history of indigenous exterminations in North America, to internment camps build for Japanese-Canadians in the story Coyote and the Enemy Aliens. The title story concerns an insomniac businessman staying in Toronto who is advised by his late-night doorman to check out Bay Street for "some exxcitement", in the surreal world imagined by the author, to see nightly flocks of Indians flying through the sky and crashing into office buildings. "In the old days, when they came through, they would black out the entire sky." The businessman meets the crew Bill and Rudy who pickup the downed Indians identifying them by their feathers -- Mohawk, Cree, Navajo -- "Don't normally see Navajos this far north.The businessman returning to his hotel appreciates how lucky he has been to see the sight. Most of the stories are laced with King's signature gloomy brand of satire.