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Big Bear
Hardcover, 204 pages
Published
December 14th 2011
by Penguin Global
(first published September 16th 2008)
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The lack of sources, including the fact the Cree kept no written history, provided Wiebe with some rather big holes to fill in this history, which he does with a novelists flair. Does this throw into doubt the historical accuracy? Absolutely, but given the limitations this might be the most accurate biography of the enigmatic Chief we can hope for. Dry at moments and occasionally I found myself tripping over awkward grammar, but still much more engaging than I feared it would be (When I told me...more
If anything this novel documents not so much the life and times of Big Bear,but the life and death of a way of living for Canada's First Nations. Most interesting was the patience Big Bear exercised both in terms of governing his people and in dealing with the Federal government. While this narrative relies less on 'documentary' evidence, and more on oral history and prudent authorial embellishment, Wiebe does his best not editorialize or sensationalize his subject. I feel this book is a fitting...more
Amazing story about one of Canada's greatest men. I do not chose these words lightly nor for show. Big Bear in Cree Mistahimaskwa, was a great man who cared for his people, who only wanted peace and to trade fairly with white men. He wanted to live on and from the land as he had in his youth and people had done for generations, that was not too much to ask. But when white men came with guns and missionaries they claimed they discovered the lands of North America and George the third by royal pro...more
A fabulous book, one that manages to convey other ideas of space, landscape, and time. Instructive without being at all heavy-handed, lyrical but factual.
This is the second of the Penguin Extraordinary Canadians series that I have read and they have both been great. Brief, solid on facts, but full of energy and emotional resonance. They've convinced me that reading all of the bios in this series is part of my To Do list.
I'm really looking forward to discussing this with Sandra once she's read it...more
This is the second of the Penguin Extraordinary Canadians series that I have read and they have both been great. Brief, solid on facts, but full of energy and emotional resonance. They've convinced me that reading all of the bios in this series is part of my To Do list.
I'm really looking forward to discussing this with Sandra once she's read it...more
Sweet book. Really shifts one's paradigm of life in the 19th century Canadian prairies. Very cool.
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Wiebe was born at Speedwell, near Fairholme, Saskatchewan in what would later become his family’s chicken barn. For thirteen years he lived in an isolated Mennonite community of about 250 people. He did not speak English until age six since Mennonites at that time customarily spoke Low German at home and standard German at Church. He attended the small school three miles from his farm and the Spee...more
More about Rudy Wiebe...
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