Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to check out this book. It is a heavy topic, and quite dense, I probably would have been better off listening to the audio version, if there is one, than trying to read it. This book touches on colonization of Natives in Canada and is trying to raise awareness of many things that we need to be making more of an effort to change.

Taiaiak Alfred is an advocate for indigenous Canadian people of the first nation he has many opinions and in the book It’s All About The Land it’s full of many different essays television interviews speechless he gave at colleges about how he sees himself and other indigenous people should and how he feels about how the first nation is going about reclaiming their land what he considers redemption for his people and much much more it really gave great insight to the true thoughts of a victim of colonization something he speaks about in the book and although I am not a big fan of calling people colonizers because anyone who truly fits that description is now deceased I also totally get where he’s coming from. I really found his stance on those who sue for land and when not being a plus to his people due to the fact they’re suing essentially the ones who stole it from them quite valid but as it’s 200 years later and many other people live on that land what really is the compromise? He brings up great questions and great defenses I found this book totally interesting in a definite educator when it comes to seeing indigenous peoples point of view and although he lives in Canada I am sure this book entrance into American indigenous people and those in Australia and New Zealand. It really is sad what happened to their ancestors. Not to mention the racism they face today. I want to thank the publisher end NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This was good. Definitely a dense read, but really important for understanding the indigenous experience.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. The author has some great answers to questions that are getting asked. This book delves into colonization and decolonization, among the various topics.

This book should be read by any and everyone who feels they have an opinion on the rights and responsibilities of the indigenous peoples, no matter where they are located. It's valuable information that can inform and educate readers.

It’s All About The Land asks us to reflect on deeply held assumptions and societal contexts that may have become invisible to many of us through time and the blurring effects of long-term acculturation. Taiaiake Alfred convincingly shares his evolution to do right by subjugated peoples everywhere, with a clear-eyed retrieval of Indigenous purpose, value, and ultimately significant loss at the hands of dominant communities.

The author wisely points out that an accurate and fair recovery of the original tenets of multicultural coexistence benefits all regarding sustainable and earth-positive practices. Such a union of respect and care for the immense diversity of the biosphere can only engender and hopefully actualize the mutual regard and consideration between cultural systems and governments. In this sense, Alfred’s appeal is not only to salvage his own and his people’s core grounding and meaningful life purpose - but, by extension, also can open the eyes of any reader to broader issues and effects of colonization, both on a personal individual as well as societal collective levels. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to lengthen their horizons of awareness, which the author shares and has admirably done himself.

I picked up this collection without knowing Alfred’s work. The writing is dynamic and forceful. With a strong sense of self and purpose both for the author and for the communities he intends to support. As someone looking to learn more about the Indigenous experience and movements in Canada this felt like a good fit. The works in this collection are broad and do a good job of educating the reader on many of the issues connected to subjugation of peoples and the lasting effects of colonial mindsets.

However, there was a little something in the writing that I struggled to engage with, so I did a little dive into Alfred’s bio. While he has many accomplishments including starting the Indigenous Government’s program at the University of Victoria, I was dismayed to find that he resigned his position there under investigation of creating a dangerous and toxic environment. One that he admitted to, and stated he would heal from. Based on this collection I’m not sure he’s quite there, but I commend anyone willing to do the hard work of being a better person.