Review by Choice Review
York Factory, a prominent post on Hudson Bay, was a nexus of commerce for the Hudson's Bay Company. Significantly, it provided a center for Cree civilization in a transitional era. The decline of fur-based commerce in the late 20th century is a matter of great regret for the Cree; nowadays York Factory is a shadow of its former self. The oral testimony, gathered from interviews with elders, is part of the historical record. These fragments of memory and experience, now recorded for a wider audience, comment on fish and game, treaty money, the Canadian Mounted Police, Christianity, schooling, and other features of everyday life. Many photographs, drawn portraits of informants, and maps supplement the text. Regrettably, informative notes are consigned inconveniently to the back, a missed opportunity to mediate in the text between past and present. These narratives assembled are familiar enough to students of Canadian native history. However, this book has the additional remarkable benefit of being a testament for future generations of Crees who may wish to know the experiences of their elders in distant times. Upper-division undergraduates and above. B. M. Gough; Wilfrid Laurier University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
