The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Genocide, Indian Residential Schools, and the Challenge of Conciliation by David B. MacDonald Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9781487522698 Reviewed by David Milward * When one hears the word “genocide,” it is easy to instantly think of the Holocaust and then not take it any further than that. As…
Read more #644 The Canadian genocide
In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch by John Zada Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2019 $32.95 / 9781771645188 Reviewed by John Gellard * John Zada’s “Noble Beyond” is the Great Bear Rainforest, “the largest tract of intact coastal temperate rain forest in the world — one so rich and prolific that…
Read more #637 Coastal ranges & riddles
Captain Cook’s Final Voyage: The Untold Story from the Journals of James Burney and Henry Roberts by James K. Barnett (editor), with a foreword by Richard Neville and an introduction by Glyn Williams Pullman, WA: Washington University Press, 2017 $34.95 (U.S.) / 9780874223576 Reviewed by Robin Inglis * This handsome volume is a welcome addition…
Read more #636 Stopover at Nootka Sound
Picking up the Pieces: Residential School Memories and the Making of the Witness Blanket by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2019 $39.95 / 9781459819955 Reviewed by Sharon Fortney * Picking up the Pieces is a beautiful catalogue documenting the process behind the making of the Witness Blanket, an art installation created…
Read more #634 Fragments of sorrow
Song of the Earth: The Life of Alfred Joseph by Ross Hoffman with Alfred Joseph Smithers: Creekstone Press, 2019 $21.95 / 9781928195054 Reviewed by Diana French * Editor’s note: We are pleased to report that on February 6, 2020, Song of the Earth: The Life of Alfred Joseph was shortlisted for the annual George Ryga…
Read more #629 Wet’suwet’en land & revival
Sam Steele: A Biography by Rod Macleod Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2018 $35.99 / 9781772123791 Reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb * There’s a CBC Heritage Minute about Sam Steele. You may have seen it. A stern, moustachioed Mountie sits at his rough wooden desk, staring down an excitable American prospector who wants to wear pistols…
Read more #628 Myths, Mounties, and Métis
Moved by the State: Forced Relocation and Making a Good Life in Postwar Canada by Tina Loo Vancouver: UBC Press, 2019 $29.95 / 9780774861014 Reviewed by LiLynn Wan * Moved by the State is a comparative history of forced relocation and development in five regions in Canada from the 1950s to the 1970s. In some…
Read more #619 Government knows best
Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot Toronto: Penguin Random House, 2018 $25.00 / 9780385691147 Reviewed by Angie Tucker * Heart Berries: A Memoir, the first book by Nlaka’pamux writer Terese Marie Mailhot, was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, long-listed for the CBC’s Canada Reads (2019), and was a finalist for the…
Read more #617 Escape from Seabird Island
Honouring the Strength of Indian Women: Plays, Stories, Poetry by Vera Manuel (author) and Michelle Coupal, Deanna Reder, Joanne Arnott, Emalene A. Manuel (editors) Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9780887558368 Reviewed by Diana French * Vera Manuel (1949-2010), actor, playwright, poet, drama therapist, and healer has been honoured with an anthology of…
Read more #610 Secwépemc playwright honoured
Our Coloured Past: The Arrow Lakes in the Age of Colour Photography by Kyle Kusch Nakusp: Arrow Lakes Historical Society, 2019 $30.00 / 9780969423683 Reviewed by Duff Sutherland * In Our Coloured Past: The Arrow Lakes in the Age of Colour Photography, Kyle Kusch presents 350 colour photographs from the collection of Nakusp’s Arrow Lakes…
Read more #604 BC Hydro’s destructive legacy
Interwoven Lives: Indigenous Mothers of Salish Coast Communities by Candace Wellman Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press, 2019 $27.95 (U.S.) / 9780874223644 Reviewed by Marie Elliott * Researching settlement history can take you in many directions, some more challenging than others. While helping people with their family histories at the Washington State Archives in Bellingham,…
Read more #599 Coast Salish women revealed
Moccasin Square Gardens: Short Stories by Richard Van Camp Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2019 $19.95 / 9781771622165 Reviewed by Paul Falardeau * Richard Van Camp, the celebrated Tłįcho storyteller, may be best known for his novel, The Lesser Blessed, or his involvement with the CBC program, North of 60. However, one would be remiss…
Read more #576 In conversation with Van Camp
At the Bridge: James Teit and An Anthropology of Belonging by Wendy Wickwire Vancouver: UBC Press, 2019 $34.95 / 9780774861526 Reviewed by Daniel Marshall * On February 6, 2020, At the Bridge: James Teit and An Anthropology of Belonging, by Wendy Wickwire, was shortlisted for the annual George Ryga Award, given to a B.C. writer…
Read more #575 The late, great, James Teit
Secwépemc People, Land, and Laws: Yerí7 Stsq̓ey̓s-kucw by Marianne Ignace and Ronald Ignace, with a foreword by Bonnie Leonard Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2017 $39.95 / 9780773551305 Reviewed by Cole Harris * Reviewed last year by Sarah Nickel in the Ormsby Review, Secwépemc People, Land, and Laws, by Marianne Ignace and Ronald Ignace, was shortlisted…
Read more #574 Secwépemc Shuswap reflections
Before We Lost the Lake: A Natural and Human History of Sumas Valley by Chad Reimer Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2018 $24.95 / 9781987915587 Reviewed by Jeff Oliver * Up until its disappearance, in matter or mind, Sumas Lake never really stood still. Since its birth at the end of the last ice age, it…
Read more #572 Settlers coveted Sumas Lake