1 comments about This Land Is My Land.

1. I reviewed this book for circulation in the children's library where I work as an intern. I found it very touching, a first-hand account from a Native American who explains his feelings in a kind, appealing voice for a child. I am purchasing a copy for myself.

5 comments about Fallen Angel: The Unlikely Rise of Walter Stadnick and the Canadian Hells Angels.

1. good book with great, little known info about the Angels and there members



2. I knew Nurget and had the pleasure of riding with him in the mid 70's when I lived in Hamilton. He was a fun, smart and happy guy. I was surprised that he made such a name for himself. Langton seems to jump around throughout the whole book, leaving the reader confused at times. Perhaps he could have got some help writing the book from a real writer. It is obvious he sides with the police authorities, giving a very one sided view of the biker lifestyle. He has made several errors pertaining to the biker culture and some of the events that took place.



3. Not only is the author a bad writer.....jumping from timeline to time line...not able to tell a story in order.....he tries to pose the Hell's Angels as the bad guys. Anyone with a solid head on their shoulders will see thru his rhetoric and realize HA is a stand up orginization that takes care of business like any normal person would. The crimes they were accused of, weren't crimes at all......they were simply the exercising of human rights against agressors that would try to deny said so rights......in fact in the entire book, i found no fault with the Angel's actions, and applaud them for their efforts.



4. The author have gone though a great deal to find the facts in hundreds of events during many years. He covers hundreds of people. Hundreds of crimes and killings. He could have picked a few events, clubs or people and written their full story. Instead the book hops between people and clubs, between centuries and continents like a school book. Theres no story, but namedropping enough to confuse anyone. Stadnik is one of hundreds of figures skidding though events, none of them with depth. People are shot and stabbed, but you find it difficult to care, since none is in the book for more than a page, and you dont get to know them. It feels disorganised. If it was in cronical order, or at least with chapter names reveiling what every chapter will cover it would be easier. Perhaps its interesting and understandable for the surviving few who were there. If your looking for facts its fine, but its too packed with facts for me. I need a story.



5. This book provides a lot of information on Walter Stadnick and the Canadian Hells Angels along with information on lesser clubs in Canada. The author, Jerry Langton, however, has made numerous disturbing errors in reporting on certain aspects of the Hells Angels and other clubs. Langton reports on page 26 that prospective members (prospects) are awarded the top rocker (Hells Angels) along with the center patch. Langton then states that the prospects recive the bottom rocker which identifies the chapter's geographical location upon earning full membership. THE OPPISITE IS TRUE for the Hells Angels and ALL OTHER CLUBS! It is hard to believe that Lanfton could make such an obvious error in his writing.
   
   Langton goes on to say that newly minted members are forced to endure a ritualistic ceremony wherein [...] ect.... are spewed on the colors (patched vest) and that the new member is forbidden to wash it. This is absoulutely untrue. No Hells Angel would desecrate the patch and show such disrespect. The fact that Langton would believe and further this myth is a statement to his lack of knowledge.
   
   Also, on page 224, langton refers to the Outlaws patch having a Deaths Head center refered to as "Charlie." This is true of the Hells Angels. The Outlaws center patch is a pair of crossed pistons. I would suggest that the next time langton writes a book, he should have someone with knowledge of the subject matter proof-read his work.

5 comments about Dylan and Cohen: Poets of Rock and Roll.

1. What makes this book such a unique and significant contribution to its genre is that it is written with the insight and sensitivity of a spirit that seems deeply attuned to those of its subjects. Not only does the reader come away with a better understanding of the historical times and political contexts that shaped these men, and the personal struggles and psychological bents that motivated their writing, but also with a clearer understanding of what attracts their devotees to their work.
   
   Throughout the book, Boucher weaves explorations of various aspects of the lives and cultural context of Dylan and Cohen that strongly affected them and their work. These include the civil rights movement, drugs, women, sexuality, God and religion, what it means to be reluctantly identified as the voice of a generation, and -- particularly for Cohen -- the holocaust. Boucher also explores the influence of other artists on their work, from Woody Guthrie for Dylan to Lorca for Cohen, as well as the influence that Dylan and Cohen had on each other.
   
   Just as Dylan and Cohen make poetry an accessible part of popular culture, with equal skill Boucher makes philosophy of art and interpretation accessible as well. He points out that our experience of lyric poetry is informed by the questions we bring to it and he explains that the richest experience is to be had when the most appropriate questions are asked. Boucher uses the theories of several philosophers such as R. G. Collingwood, Henry Jones, and Michael Oakeshott, to identify which questions are most appropriately asked of particular works at particular moments in the artists' creative development. He also shows the fruitlessness of asking the wrong kind of questions of a particular poem, as is the tendency of many thinkers. He describes various forms of artistic expression: pseudo-art, or art as magic; art as the expression of emotion, or imaginative art; and inspirational art, or poetry which delights in images. He then demonstrates how, at various stages in Dylan's artistic development, his work takes all three forms of expression, whereas Cohen's work primarily takes the form of the last two. He then offers examples from their poetry to illustrate which form(s) of expression is/are being inhabited by a particular work and he supports his demonstrations with quotations about their work from the artists themselves.
   
   Finally, Boucher helps to bring the period to life for his reader by including several pictures of book covers, concert and film posters, magazine covers and various photographs. The overall result of the book is that Boucher successfully positions his readers to have a richer experience and a deeper understanding and appreciation of the lyric poetry of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.



2. This is an excellent study of the music and lyrics of the 2 greatest rock "poets." Boucher explores whether or not their lyrics even qualify as poetry and keeps the subject interesting! He effectively delves into their psyches,as well, without getting hung up on personal, biographical details which have been over analyzed in other places. I found the final chapter "The Religious Experience" to be some of the best writing that I've seen on Dylan and Cohen's spiritual journeys. I highly recommend this to fans of either man's work.



3. The irate and intemperate person signing himself pepidude in a previous review seems incapable of being able to appreciate an argument or of understanding the nature of the exercise that David Boucher has undertaken. It is a thematic book with a wide range of references, not a book of facts about Bob Dylan.The author introduces us to the complexities of issues relating to the difference between popular music lyrics and poetry, between origins and originality, the poetry of imagination and inspiration and much more. Anyone interested in ideas and issues, and in theories as well as facts will find this book immensely stimulating and fascinating.



4. David Boucher has written a book that examines in detail the contribution of both artists to the worlds of both literature and rock & roll. In his intoduction he looks at the progress of Cohen from serious poet to rock & roll recording artist and performer. This transition cost him status in the literary world but aided by the legendary "golden voice" and some consummate musicians it allowed him to reach a hitherto undreamed of audience.

   Dylan, whom he refers to as "The Changing Man" in Chapter Three, was the chameleon-like performer who picked up, and discarded new personas and new musical styles at the drop of his very famous hat. The obvious example here is the infamous "electric tour" where Dylan was heckled and called "Judas". This abuse was, the book shows, not only for his perceived betrayal of the acoustic folk movement, but also a reaction to the contempt with which Dylan treated his audience. Dylan had always been a confrontational performer, and his response to such attacks was to become louder and less acoustic than ever. What David Boucher also shows is that this signified a shift from the community centred ethic of the folk movement to the excessive individualism and nihilism of the Beat poets who through the drug culture wanted, like Rimbaud, to experience the extremes.

   In other chapters the myriad influences on both performers are examined as well as their involvement with political and religious organisations. Finally David Boucher gives us an insight into the road travelled by both men in search of their own personal salvation.

   Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are complex men and complex performers. To listen to, or to read the works of either man is always challenging. In this book the author has written an analysis that is equally challenging exploring, as it does, the anger and the angst of the 1960s and beyond. I enjoyed every minute of the challenge.




5. David Boucher's masterly work 'Dylan & Cohen' is essential reading, not simply for devotees of these 'Poets of Rock and Roll' but for anyone with an interest in the history of the radical cultural, political and musical changes in the last century.

   It is clear from this eloquent book that neither Dylan nor Cohen wished to speak for anyone but themselves and equally clear that the strength of their work would be seized upon by a generation looking for a new direction. Thankfully they both continued to write through their tribulations and we have a bank of some of the most evocative music to continue to listen to.

   I urge you to buy this book but with a word of warning: you won't want to stop reading once you've started.

No comments about Snowshoes and Spotted Dick: Letters from a Wilderness Dweller.

No comments about Niagara Daredevils: Thrills And Spills over Niagara Falls (Amazing Stories).

4 comments about Woodswoman II: Beyond Black Bear Lake.

1. Another good read from Anne LaBastille, but the schtick is starting to wear a little thin. I loved Ms. B's first book, and was looking forward to this second installment.
   
   Don't get me wrong - I liked it enough, and I finished it with no problems. Anne's adventures start to wear a little thin after the excellent first book though ("Woodswoman"). She builds a second cabin, animals die, she hurts herself, she meets a man, etc. It its details, it is really very much like the first book, only a little more old-hat, and a little more preachy. However, if you are interested in following the author's story, it is of course, just what the doctor ordered. I find it a bit braggy, and a bit of a bore now and then.
   
   The book bills itself as "her decision to retreat further," which I certainly do not find to be the case. In fact, it is more like "her decision to retreat less."



2. With the Adirondack setting, Woodswoman II, by Anne Labastille, captures a way of life most people will never know about. The way Anne talks about her life as a woodswoman pulls the reader into her world and life. There are also many good details. While building her second house, Anne faces many difficulties including temporary blindness when she gets cement dust in her eyes, and dropping a large spruce on her leg, injuring herself so she cannot walk for two months. As she chooses her dog, the decision becomes the reader's and the excitement is on them. Around Anne her beautiful world is disappearing to acid rain and people. As the reader progresses through this story he or she will find the true meaning of the woods. The setting and unusual way of writing brings this book together to make a fabulous story of Anne's life. Her unique way of writing shows who she is. She talks about smaller details in great detail, talking about the general one a small mystery. When Anne was building her house, she talks about when her boat flipped when carrying supplies to her cabin. She also talks about her feelings a lot in her autobiography. She explains how she likes her doctor more then why she was temporarily blind when she gets some cement dust in her eyes. Another reason I give this book five stars is the way she decries her surroundings and her land. When Anne is on a walk she Comes upon a cliff and transfer you there in to the fog and wet green moss. She plants a photograph in the reader's mind so that the reader can find every thing in Anne's cabin. As you see there are reasons to like this book. There is one and only one reason why I would not recommend this book is that it skips from one topic to another for example, she talks about building her house, she suddenly starts the next chapter talking about acid rain and polluting. This also happened when she got hurt and talked that in the middle of a chapter about her house. This reason is not bad enough to make this book a book I would not recommend. This book is a wonderful Adironacks story about a young woman and her dogs.



3. This second installment of the 'Woodswoman' trilogy is a step up in maturity for Dr. LaBastille. "Woodswoman" (one), dealt largely with the purchase of land and the building of a dream cabin on a remote lake. This books becomes more real, as Dr. LaBastille begins to have to worry about trespassing intruders, acid rain and the real threat that the government can pose in this unique environment. Determined not to let these new problems destroy her outlook or her life, Dr. LaBastille begins to build a second cabin - further into the wilderness. Encompassing both the new thrill of building a more isloated respite along with some freinds, brings another insight into Anne LaBastille's life ten years later. Numerous elderly Adirondack guides become great friends, sharing their own stories of the wilderness. A new romance evolves and the author has to deal with the reality of having to deal with both worlds. This book speaks not only of the wilderness, but the grand people that make and keep it unique. Of course, Dr. LaBastille's dogs are always given star treatment and her love of these animals is heartfelt. More refined and a little less naive, this second 'woodswoman' book will break and warm your heart at the same time.



4. Woodswoman II is the continuing biography of author Anne LaBastille, who found peace and solitude in the log cabin she built for herself at Black Bear Lake, in the Adirondack Park of upstate New York. This is the engaging, compelling, sometimes inspiring story of how Anne decided to retreat a half-mile father into the wilderness behind her main cabin and build a second, tiny cabin (fashioned after the one in Thoreau's "Walden") in which she could write and contemplate. Woodswoman II focuses on her renewed bond with nature, her companionship with two German shepherd dogs; and her sustained and sustaining relationship with a man fully as independent as herself. Highly recommended reading for anyone who has ever contemplating leaving the stress of urban life behind for the contemplative isolation of the wilderness.

4 comments about Outrageous Fortune: The Rise and Ruin of Conrad and Lady Black.

1. Conrad Black has written extensively in reply to his critics and eagerly awaits his day in court to reply to those have so grievously attacked him. He has sued Bower for libel and I would wait for the completion of that action before I leapt to the conclusion that Bower has told the truth in whole or in part.
   
   With regard to the shareholders of Hollinger, he increased their net wealth by about 2.3 billion dollars. If he would do that for me I certainly wouldn't begrudge him a party once in a while.



2. Conrad Black was originally a fairly decent man who lived fairly modestly by billionaire standards. Then, he was seduced by one Barbara Amiel who persuaded him to divorce his first wife and marry her in the bargain. Once married, the new Lady Black went about raising the couple's living standards to absurdly lavish heights.
   
   All this luxurious excess cost a ton of money. So, Black set about looting the publicly held company in which he held the controlling votes. He installed a compliant board of directors, slashed expenses and either fired or sued anyone who objected.
   
   However, all this corruption eventually attracted the attention of both investigative reporters and law enforcement. For all of Lord Black's power, he was ultimately unable to prevent his demise. He has been ousted from the ownership of his company and is on the verge of standing on criminal trial in his native Canada.
   
   This is an excellent book about how greed and avarice often leads to one's own demise.



3. Now that the levee has broken, you would have to go a long way to garner sympathy for a couple with the hubris of Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel, but in his splendidly vituperative "Outrageous Fortune", Tom Bower almost pulls it off. This is a real piece of work (though, as Bower might say, if the shoe fits...) and no effort has been made to present any sort of balance whatsoever: Even the title is snide: Not "Conrad and Barbara Black", nor "Lord and Lady Black", but "Conrad and *Lady* Black" - a snipe at her overweening delight at ennoblement, and perhaps a cute reference to Black's habit of referring to his wife (from well before his peerage) as "the Little Lady".
   
   Make no mistake, this is a rip-snorter of a read: I've been devouring pages, missing stops on the tube, walking into lamp-posts and zoning out of conference calls on its account: it is the Barbarians at the Gate of the new Millennium - tempered only by the fact that its characters seem transparently unleavened by the financial expertise, corporate understanding, commercial cunning, capitalist audacity and iron balls of the KKR crowd: these protagonists, as Bower paints them, are as self-absorbed, self-aggrandising and self-enriching as the best of them, whilst still being deluded and dim-witted schmucks.
   
   Which is rather suspect in itself. If you accept that view then it is truly remarkable that the Blacks lasted as long as they did at the top of the pile. Bower does not dispute that Conrad Black attracted - and retained for decades - some high-quality help: Lord Carrington proposed his ennoblement and Baroness Thatcher seconded it (despite Bower's assertion that she found Black "ordinary"); Henry Kissinger sat on Hollinger's board even until the endgame played out (as did Richard Perle and KKR founder Henry Kravis' wife). So either Conrad Black was an extraordinary con-artist, or Bower is not giving credit where it is due.
   
   Nor is much credence given to Conrad Black's intellect or Amiel's journalistic prowess: Bower would have you believe that Black simply has a large vocabulary, a photographic memory and a penchant for gormlessly reciting details of naval battles at dinner parties, and suddenly took a couple of months to dash off a rangy biography of Roosevelt, which did nothing but illustrate his own shoddy scholarship. Now I haven't read this book (and nor, at 1245 pages, am I planning to), but the critical reaction to it on this site - which I have a healthy respect for - has been almost unanimously positive. Again, you get the sense that credit might not have been given where due.
   
   Finally, the book is studded with of startling exchanges which are set out as direct quotations - in situations where it is difficult to believe that the remarks could have possibly been recorded nor word-for-word remembered: Amiel's off-the-cuff remarks during dinner parties and to household staff and Black's asides to his co-directors during meetings and on the telephone over a twenty five year period are faithfully reproduced as if from a stenographer's notebook. I can't help thinking Bower is talking a biographer's licence here - that's a polite way of saying he made these quotes up - perhaps on the basis of a vaguer recollection like "then Conrad said something rude" or some such thing.
   
   Tom Bower has certainly done some homework and tracks the financial shenanigans skilfully, and I doubt there will be much sympathy out there amongst the schadenfreude for the misfortune of an unpleasant couple who are in the process of getting what has been coming to them, but all the same this relentlessly brutal entry can't help but remind us that this celebrated president's biogrpaher isn't the one writing this part of the last century's history.
   
   Olly Buxton



4. Apparently only a miracle will stop Lord Black from missing his billionaire lifestyle from a prison cell. Tom Bower's account is gripping. The subjects of his attention, Lord and Lady Black, certainly are much more interesting that the average pair accused of siphoning millions from unsuspecting shareholders. Bower credibly builds the portrait of two people that feel that the law should not apply to the ostensibly rich. Notably, the intellectual pretenses of Lady Black are effectively drowned in the repeated demonstration that, as she said, her extravagance knew no bounds.
   
   Bower's examination of the various facets of Lord Black is solid. The multiple quotes from his subject denying at all times any wrongdoing, always in elegant terms, confirm the picture of a man that considered himself a mix of intellectual giant and paragon of rapacious capitalism at its best (or worst). Apparently those that were silly enough to entrust their money to him fully deserved the systematic pillage that Lord Black and his associates applied to the companies under their management. The record of how Lord Black used people with solid reputations to get seals of approval for his shenanigans should send shudders down the spines of those that think that seating at a Board of Directors is a good opportunity to get some money and a good lunch while, at most, giving a glimpse at the reports and requests from the company's management before signing their endorsement.
   
   The timing of Bower's work is superb considering that Lord Black will face trial soon. After finishing it, the reader is ready to follow the saga to what will most probably be a fitting conclusion.

4 comments about Halfbreed.

1. The way Maria Campbell literally bears her entire being onto paper is absolutely amazing. As Canadian citizens, it is important to still recognize the issues that plague our society. Campbell's book does just that, offering insight and a hope for something better.



2. The novel, "Half-breed" is based on the biography of Maria Campbell, a Metis woman who was born in northern Saskatchewan. Maria Campbell's family was a mixture of Scottish, French, Cree, English, and Irish. They spoke a language completely different from the people around them. The half-breeds lost their land when the authorities reclaimed it to offer to immigrants. Thus half-breeds settled down along the road lines and crown lands where they built cabins and bars, giving them the title of "Road Allowance people". Maria was born in a home where Cheecum, her father's Cree grandmother, taught ancient Cree rituals and legends. Maria's struggle for existence was strengthened by the Cree traditions and by Cheecum's wisdom. However, this was weakened by extreme discrimination and poverty.When she was fifteen, she tried to escape from poverty and discrimination by marrying a white person. However, soon after she broke up with him and found herself alone in the slums of Vancouver where she faced drug addiction, prostitution and depression. After many years of hardship and struggle, Maria made new friends who helped her to remember Cheechum's lessons, advice and her heritage. Eventually she returned to her own people and decided to work with native organisations all across Canada. The text is mainly concerned with the frequent discrimination, its negative impact and the extreme poverty in which the Metis- Indians had to live under. The narrator of the book, Maria Campbell, conveys her sorrows and frustrations by emphasising what it is like to be a Half-breed woman and grows up between two opposing worlds: white and native. The text clearly demonstrates the existing problems regarding race within the pluralistic Canadian society. The narrator develops the argument by describing her experiences. Through her experiences, she explains how badly whites treated her and her people. She grew up as a social outcast and was constantly teased and mistreated by other school children. Throughout the novel, Maria Campbell provides many examples to show the white society's mistrust and rejection of her people. The examples show the Indians' isolation on every level of society, including the church. Not only were she and her family excluded and driven out of church, but they also had to suffer verbal insult. Whenever the Half-breeds went downtown, the town's people would yell "Half-breeds are in town, hide your valuables." If they walked into stores, other white women and their children would leave while the shopkeepers'wives and children would watch to prevent the Half-breeds from stealing. The text discusses three important sociological concepts: discrimination, poverty and injustice. Defining these concepts in "cause-effect" context, one can see the interconnection among the three. Unjust government policies causes poverty, which in effect contributes to society's enhanced discrimination and mistrust of the Indians. While the Half-breeds represent a subculture, characterised by certain cultural traits that differs from others in the society, whites represent the dominant class who hold the power and influence. The Half-breeds were homeless because the Canadian government had unfairly taken their land away from them, so they have remained poor and unable to establish their own social institutions such as church and school. Consequently, the Half-breeds were subordinated and forced to speak the dominant language, behave the way whites do, and go to schools and churches that were built by the white society. Thus, the cultural diversity, different physical appearance, economical scarcity and a disordered life style, greatly influenced the discrimination against the Half-breeds. In the first fourteen chapters, the narrator relates the life style of half-breed families, their relationship with the white society, their traits, traditions, and their history. Through her experiences, she explains how badly whites treated her and her people. She grew up as a social ou, the Half-breeds remained relatively poorer and powerless. As the narrator states, due to poverty and lack of housing the Half-breeds had to move to "road-allowance-houses" (which are like shacks). The pages of these chapters also uncover the main cultural differences between whites and half-breeds by describing their family structure, distinct traditions and conception. These differences can be the structural elements that contribute to the uniqueness of Indian's situation. Firstly, unlike whites', half-breeds have extended family type in which two or more generations of the family members live together. Secondly, the half-breed families and other Indians live in a community where they practise their spiritual rituals, traditions and transmit their distinct cultural elements to the coming generation. It is also evident in the novel that Maria's family included her extended family and the Cheemchum taught Maria and her siblings their heritage, legends as well as cultural values and norms. Finally, the most important characteristic that sets the Indians apart from whites lies in their spiritual conception of the world. While the Indians are highly spiritual and believe in the interpretation of the natural and the supernatural, the whites strongly believe in subduing and dominating nature in order to create nature in men's image. With respect to such differences, in regards to family and community structure Indians try to sustain their distinct conception of the world as well as their distinct culture. Hence, their struggles to protect and sustain their uniqueness make them more distinct and marginal in the society. Maintaining these distinct elements also causes the Indians to remain economically weak in the contemporary industrialised Canadian society, since their belief is based on rationality rather than spirituality and the supernatural. The rest of the chapters are about Maria Campbell's life in Vancouver. The book mostly focuses on the realities of urban racism, prostitution, drug addiction and violence. Maria's husband left her without any money, which forced her to face prostitution. Within functional perspective, which is based on consensus and harmony for the benefit of society, prostitution seemed to be the only way for Maria to survive. Therefore she had to get involved in prostitution in order to survive and have enough money to raise her daughter; thus she carried out her function in society. In this process she also became addicted to drug and alcohol, because all the terrible circumstances that she faced were against her moral understanding and distinct (Half-breeds') conception of the world. So she lost her self-esteem and found herself in depression with the trap of drug addiction and alcoholism. At the end, she recovered from her addictions through the help of her own people. They helped her to regain her identity and dignity hence she started to work within "Native people" organisations throughout Canada.Campbell's experiences with discrimination, poverty, and other unfavourable things are realistic and persuasive. The examples that she gives in the novel strongly support her argument: the hardship of being "a half-breed woman in the white dominated Canadian society". Yet, at times her narrative tends to be biased since she conveys her story in a subjective manner. Especially, her easy and quick involvement in prostitution and drug addiction is questionable and difficult to understand since she was raised in a conservative and traditional Cree family. Nevertheless, The book "Half-breed" basically reflects an outstanding aspect of native people's difficulty in assimilating into the pluralistic Canadian society. It also provides a brief knowledge about how native people's distinct culture and subordinated economical or political weakness contribute their marginal and isolated position in the society. Overall, I personally think this book is useful for understanding the sociological concepts such as inequality, discrimination and poverty through the eyes of the distinct people who are discriminated against. The text offers an aspect of native people's lives in northern Saskatchewan through a half-breeds woman's experiences. The simple language and fascinating narrative makes the book more interesting and easy to read.



3. though her stories are not exclusive to the life of a Metis woman, the imagery is haunting. poverty, addiction, motherhood and the will of a society forced to make it on their own are all exposed. these themes are explored by other authors but not from this perspective. I would recommend this to every mother and/or women thinking of starting a family. this is a must read. for a guys perspective on similar themes check out alexie sherman's "the lone ranger and tanto fist fight in heaven". you won't be disappointed.



4. Maria Campbell tells a story of courageous survival from the perspective of a Metis woman. The reader becomes a part of Maria's journey through life, which begins amongst the Road Allowance People of Northern Saskatchewan. Her story describes a life dominated by basic survival. Hunting, trapping, poaching - if need be - and roasted gophers for a young school child's lunch. Her odyssey leads her through many dark places, one of them the Vancouver skids and a life as a junkie. Yet througout Maria Campbell manages to convey a sense of beauty, and her story, though often tragic, will become vivid in front of the reader's inner eyes. Half-Breed is a story of triumph over racial oppression. After reading this book, one can feel this woman's willingness to continue the fight that her great-grandmother's people began long ago in Riel country.

No comments about Stones, Bones and Stitches: Storytelling through Inuit Art (A Lord Museum Book).

4 comments about The Voyageur.

1. I purchased this book shortly after returning from a week in northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe area, the general area of my birthplace, many relatives and my french canadian ancestors. After visiting the historic site of the NW trading company at Grand Portage, I was ashamed to admit how little I knew of the this important and colorful part of early american history. I found the book not only informative but very entertaining as well. The first half of the book focuses on the origins, life and culture of the voyageur and then expands into their additional roles as explorers, early settlers etc. Accompanying the story of the voyageur, there is much necessary early 19th century NW history included and required, as The voyageurs served a vast expanse of present day US and Canadian territory both before and during the period described in the book and their contributions go far beyond those of Master Paddlers.



2. Read this before, during, and after your Boundary Waters canoe trip and enjoy finding the places past and present intersect.



3. Grace Lee Nute's The Voyageur depicts significant figures in American and Canadian history who have received little attention. Indeed, Nute has written what many consider the classic exploration of the subject in this book that dates back to 1935. The book is divided into nine specific categories on such subjects as the voyageur's canoe, his journey, his songs, his life as explorer etc. Each section is compact, well-researched and fascinating.
   
   The section on voyaging is especially astounding when we consider these men would carry hundreds of pounds on their back when reaching a portage or place where they had to carry their canoes and accessories overland to the next river or lake for their voyage. It is astonishing for me to think, as a resident of the Lake Superior region, what it would have been like to traverse that great lake 300 years ago, to pass through the rapids at Sault Sainte Marie when there were no locks, to sleep under your canoe, to winter inland above the Great Lakes in the dead of winter when the temperature was forty degrees below zero. Nute's book is a true tale of human courage, endurance, and determination, and she makes it clear the voyageur deserves much of the credit for many of the discoveries and explorations which are credited to other men, who never would have reached those places of discovery without their voyageurs' help.
   
   My only criticism of the book is that most of Nute's research is based in the early eighteen hundreds, and I would have preferred to hear more about voyageurs from the earlier years of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. She does explore how important the voyageurs were even long after the United States was founded, in helping John Jacob Astor's American Fur Trade Company, and their roles in early American events, especially the War of 1812. The book is a must read for anyone who lives in the Great Lakes Region or is interested in the early exploration and settlement of North America.
   
   - Tyler R. Tichelaar, author of Iron Pioneers and The Queen City, available on Amazon



4. Our census returns published in 2001 indicate that the population of the United States is increasingly of mixed race and ethnic identity. If I had a dollar for every pundit who claimed that this is a revolutionary situation that has never happened before in America, I could buy my own fleet of birchbark canoes. Of course, there have been many subsets of North American society that have been characterized by a mixing and blurring of ethnic identity. Some of these subsets arose centuries ago. One of them is that group of French-Canadian-Indian men and women known as the "metis" or "voyageurs." The social customs of this group, their values, their strengths, their love of life, are recounted here by an enthusiast. Miss Nute was a pioneer. She wrote before her time. I heartily recommend this book to everyone.