Hi, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh.

It always seems to me like we, as a country, are always just on the cusp of obliterating the American myth of Thanksgiving.

We know the history. We know what this country did to Native Americans.

We know that the story most of us were told as kids about Thanksgiving is, you know, kind of BS. But then the day comes and my mother-in-law put sausage in her stuffing, which is banging, and you see folks you haven't seen in a minute, and the house is all warm. And then you just kind of forget all that dark stuff. Or, you know, maybe that's just me. I don't know.

But today, we're going to bring you an interview with Tommy Orange, author of the book There,

There. The book was deservedly, one of the busiest back in 2018.

And if you haven't read it, the intro passage is one of the most stunning and brutal

tellings of Native American history.

When NPR's Linnery caught up with him at the big book convention called Book Expo,

he was just becoming author famous and adjusting to the attention.

It wasn't a position he loved to be in, but felt like he had to play along to hold the door

open for other indigenous writers.

Here's the piece.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods

on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Tommy Orange grew up in Oakland. His mother is

white, his father a member of the Cheyenne tribe. He wasn't much of a reader as a kid,

but after graduating from college with a degree in sound engineering, he couldn't find work. So he got a job

at a bookstore where he developed a passion for reading. You know, I was in my 20s and also

...