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Louis 'David' Riel: Prophet of the New World
Louis Riel believed that on 8 December 1875 he received a divine commission authorizing him to save the mTtis and reform the Catholic Church. He was a prophet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the mTtis were the new chosen people. A new branch of the Catholic Church would be founded in North America, with its first Holy See in Montreal, and its second in Riel's birthplace of St. Vital.
When Riel expressed these views in 1876, he was committed to a lunatic asylum. After his release, he suppressed his ideas for several years, only to reveal them again to his mTtis followers during the North-West Rebellion. The Rebellion thus became as much a religious as a political movement; Riel believed himself a prophet to the end of his life, and he went to his death thinking that he, like Christ, would be resurrected on the third day.
Earlier writers about Louis Riel have noted his religious beliefs but have not taken them seriously. They have usually dismissed Riel's attempt to found a new religion as the symptom of a deranged mind. Thomas Flanagan takes Riel's religion seriously and analyses it using categories developed in the literature about millenarian movements. He shows that Riel's religion, far from being simply individual madness, is typical of the nativistic and millenarian movements described by one author as the 'religions of the oppressed.'
This is also a biography, tracing Riel's thinking on religious subjects from his childhood to the end of his life and paying particular attention to events in his life that influenced his thinking. This developmental approach is necessary because Riel's ideas changed frequently; he never arrived at a fixed 'system.'
The research is based on primary sources throughout. Much new documentation has become available over the past thirty years and in the sixteen years since this volume was initially published. In particular, new information is presented about Riel's youth in Montreal, his time in insane asylums, his years in Montana, and the North-West Rebellion. Flanagan also re-interprets well-known documents. While this revised edition does not alter the fundamentals of his interpretation, it improves the historical backdrop against which it is presented through use of a wealth of new primary sources. Flanagan has updated his citings of Riel's manuscripts to current sources.
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First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 11, 2021
If the thesis of this book is that Riel generally falls into the category of a 'millenarian' religious figure who portrays someone living the 'religion of the oppressed', then I agree.
If the thesis of this book is that Riel was not crazy, then I do not.
If the thesis of this book is that Riel was not crazy, then I do not.
November 20, 2015
Thomas Flanagan, a political science professor at the University of Calgary, is no stranger to controversial topics, and it doesn’t get much more controversial than his book Louis ‘David’ Riel: Prophet of the New World. The revised edition of the book, published in 1996, is at first deceptively simple, but the very fact that the publishers chose to make it red speaks to the reader about the subject matter they will find within: red is a very bold colour choice and not one that engenders calm. Riel, possibly one of the most controversial figures in Canadian history, is likewise not a force for peace. Flanagan’s relatively short work presents Riel, not as a mad rebel, but as a disappointed man living in a time of great turbulence for the Metis people, and a man who tried to create hope for those same people. The state of his sanity, Flanagan says, should not be at issue in this work, but even he is hard pressed to present evidence that does not beg the question of insanity on almost every page.
Louis Riel would hardly have been less of a controversial figure if his sanity was not an issue. It is hardly surprising that Riel was having issues with the new federal government of Canada, when he joined the rebellion, and as president of the provisional government of Rupert’s land, he ordered the killing of a civilian man in the company of delegates from the federal government. And this was only the first of many such instances of conflict with government officials. It was not only the government that he had issues with, however. Interspersed among his actions as president, and his incarceration in insane asylums, Flanagan provides a wealth of detail about Riel’s attempts to create his own religion. Starting with a mental break where he started calling himself David Mordecai, a French Jew sent to save his people; Riel began to see himself as a Prophet for his people, leading them into a better time.
Flanagan does an excellent job in presenting his case that Riel was not a mad man (or perhaps not just a mad man) but someone who saw himself as singled out for a special purpose. And in the structuring of his narrative, Flanagan seems to have drawn a straight parallel between his chapters and those of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Preparation in Flanagan’s book could easily be compared with Campbell’s the Call to Adventure, right down to spiritual intervention. In the very first pages of the book, we hear of Riel’s mother’s refusal to marry his father, until she sees a vision that refers to her as a disobedient child. While this could certainly be seen as an argument for mental illness running throughout the family, it is presented in the context of a differentiation between Louis Riel and other mere mortals. A second example, explicitly stated in Flanagan, was a miracle cure of Riel’s sister who was thought to be on death’s door. Flanagan says that Riel would certainly have seen this as a sign that he was destined for greater things. Each hero, says Joseph Campbell, goes through similar trials and tests. Whether we think that Riel’s own journey as presented in this book as just a figment of his imagination, the presentation by Flanagan is compelling. In actual fact, the presentation of Riel as a special man is interesting, and certainly tallies well with the Hero’s Journey – Riel as a sort of Christ figure, but it does not account Riel’s mental state which, despite Flanagan saying he is not looking at that, is pervasive throughout the text.
If there is a fault with the book, however, it is that Flanagan tends to show a touch of sympathy, almost to the point of grasping at straws. Evidence does show that Riel suffered a great deal of disappointment in his life: the loss of his father at a young age, the denial of his marriage to a secret fiancé, being kicked out of the College of Montreal., and his fruitless attempts to gain employment in the federal government would be enough to weigh on anyone. For someone with such initially great prospects, and obviously active mind, these losses may have felt greater than they were to others, particularly when coming in a relatively short period of time. And Riel, already frustrated, has further trouble when he is elected to parliament several times but is never able to take his seat. This evidence as presented by Flanagan, most certainly speaks to a man frustrated, and provides understanding of why he would turn rebel, but it speaks more specifically to why he might be mentally unstable. Given his erratic and apparent mad behavior, it makes sense that he would be placed somewhere where he would not be able to harm himself or others. Here, Flanagan’s attempts to be objective almost seem to turn sympathetic. Riel was committed without the necessary signatures, we are told. This is presented at a time when we see that Riel is completely unhinged, so it makes sense that his friends who cared about him would want to see that he didn’t hurt himself or others.
Thomas Flanagan faced a difficult task when he set out to write about Louis Riel’s religious convictions. It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty that someone is a Prophet. In his book, Flanagan deals with this problem by wrapping everything up in Riel’s beliefs. He believed he was a Prophet, and therefore set about establishing a new religion. The evidence presented in this book supports this position very well. As a reader, however, it is harder to ignore Flanagan’s request in the preface, to ignore questions of Riel’s sanity. Yes, it is easy to see, given the evidence presented, that Riel believed himself to be a direct disciple of God, and acted accordingly (right down to his statement about having to perform miracles. The evidence certainly proves the thesis that Riel believed himself to be a Prophet, but it leaves the reader wondering not whether he was a Prophet, but whether he would have met the psychological definitions for psychological disorders.
Louis Riel would hardly have been less of a controversial figure if his sanity was not an issue. It is hardly surprising that Riel was having issues with the new federal government of Canada, when he joined the rebellion, and as president of the provisional government of Rupert’s land, he ordered the killing of a civilian man in the company of delegates from the federal government. And this was only the first of many such instances of conflict with government officials. It was not only the government that he had issues with, however. Interspersed among his actions as president, and his incarceration in insane asylums, Flanagan provides a wealth of detail about Riel’s attempts to create his own religion. Starting with a mental break where he started calling himself David Mordecai, a French Jew sent to save his people; Riel began to see himself as a Prophet for his people, leading them into a better time.
Flanagan does an excellent job in presenting his case that Riel was not a mad man (or perhaps not just a mad man) but someone who saw himself as singled out for a special purpose. And in the structuring of his narrative, Flanagan seems to have drawn a straight parallel between his chapters and those of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Preparation in Flanagan’s book could easily be compared with Campbell’s the Call to Adventure, right down to spiritual intervention. In the very first pages of the book, we hear of Riel’s mother’s refusal to marry his father, until she sees a vision that refers to her as a disobedient child. While this could certainly be seen as an argument for mental illness running throughout the family, it is presented in the context of a differentiation between Louis Riel and other mere mortals. A second example, explicitly stated in Flanagan, was a miracle cure of Riel’s sister who was thought to be on death’s door. Flanagan says that Riel would certainly have seen this as a sign that he was destined for greater things. Each hero, says Joseph Campbell, goes through similar trials and tests. Whether we think that Riel’s own journey as presented in this book as just a figment of his imagination, the presentation by Flanagan is compelling. In actual fact, the presentation of Riel as a special man is interesting, and certainly tallies well with the Hero’s Journey – Riel as a sort of Christ figure, but it does not account Riel’s mental state which, despite Flanagan saying he is not looking at that, is pervasive throughout the text.
If there is a fault with the book, however, it is that Flanagan tends to show a touch of sympathy, almost to the point of grasping at straws. Evidence does show that Riel suffered a great deal of disappointment in his life: the loss of his father at a young age, the denial of his marriage to a secret fiancé, being kicked out of the College of Montreal., and his fruitless attempts to gain employment in the federal government would be enough to weigh on anyone. For someone with such initially great prospects, and obviously active mind, these losses may have felt greater than they were to others, particularly when coming in a relatively short period of time. And Riel, already frustrated, has further trouble when he is elected to parliament several times but is never able to take his seat. This evidence as presented by Flanagan, most certainly speaks to a man frustrated, and provides understanding of why he would turn rebel, but it speaks more specifically to why he might be mentally unstable. Given his erratic and apparent mad behavior, it makes sense that he would be placed somewhere where he would not be able to harm himself or others. Here, Flanagan’s attempts to be objective almost seem to turn sympathetic. Riel was committed without the necessary signatures, we are told. This is presented at a time when we see that Riel is completely unhinged, so it makes sense that his friends who cared about him would want to see that he didn’t hurt himself or others.
Thomas Flanagan faced a difficult task when he set out to write about Louis Riel’s religious convictions. It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty that someone is a Prophet. In his book, Flanagan deals with this problem by wrapping everything up in Riel’s beliefs. He believed he was a Prophet, and therefore set about establishing a new religion. The evidence presented in this book supports this position very well. As a reader, however, it is harder to ignore Flanagan’s request in the preface, to ignore questions of Riel’s sanity. Yes, it is easy to see, given the evidence presented, that Riel believed himself to be a direct disciple of God, and acted accordingly (right down to his statement about having to perform miracles. The evidence certainly proves the thesis that Riel believed himself to be a Prophet, but it leaves the reader wondering not whether he was a Prophet, but whether he would have met the psychological definitions for psychological disorders.
August 12, 2017
Flanagan reviews the role of Riel in both rebellions, as well as his biography. He regarded Riel, as someone who deserved his death sentence. He also claims that the Northwest rebellion was useless since the government did not have a vicious plan to destroy the Métis and deprive them from their lands and rights.
Read
September 23, 2009I wanted a little more background on him when we discuss Plague of Doves.
September 29, 2008
sure, he was a bit of a nutter..this book whips him for it. He's a relation dontcha know.
Read
October 4, 2017I can not with good conscious recommend this book.
After thoughts are fun aren't they? At least sometimes? I find that so after reading what another researcher and author has scribed and published.
I can see merely from the title the direction this author will take his thoughts and compilation to. I must say that I was deeply impressed that twenty-years was spent searching, researching, reading, and re-reading, questioning what's read and asking the right questions on any documented materials across the world to form this thesis. The author stuck to the facts without drawing too many assumptions or asserting personal biases. However, there were several times that suggestive thoughts were cleverly placed within the content scope. Those are often misleading biases and I think should not be found in finer writing.
What I was most unhappy with is that so very little was provided on the family lineage, cultural ideals and customs, or the justifiable recourse Indigenous Peoples took to the hegemonic invasion of Europe. It isn't as if genealogy on Riel's family is difficult to discover!Flannagan, I believe, was too much under the influence of Academia to do this story of Louis Riel Jr any fair presentation. Metis are misinterpreted a great deal, often labelled "grandiose, arrogant, and intimidating, and called Bois Brules (burnt-wood)." Like other Nations, the variables across the breadth of the Metis Nation are immense. Myself like Louis Riel, believe that Metis hold the seeds to All Nations. Each Metis born should be able to relate to inequality to Metis as a Nation (and all others)with inherent rights as Indigenous Peoples displaced by foreign policies of elitism. Nearly all the industrial-colonization was delivered in the form of French and English languages, not their own.
You see, one cannot possibly write truthfully about anyone without a good understanding of their cultural upbringing. That is what shapes the human consciousness and behavioral responses. Maybe history teachers shouldn't write books! They can't seem to perceive except through their own cultural lens. But not all history instructors fit that category. I have heard of teachers who dress the part of the particular era they want students to understand. And how fun is that! Students watch cultural enactment unfold. Watching a play is extremely interactive, almost like putting a puzzle together. Then get into group discussions, wowzers!
Did Louis respect and love his father? I the reader don't get to know except that when Louis Sr dies Louis grieved for a long time and isolated with it for years. That is not good no matter what cultural upbringing one has had! Remember the saying "two's company, three's a crowd?" That's what was imposed upon Manitoba Metis. They might as well NOT have existed to the other majority of social peer groups.
Because of the fact that I don't get a close encounter with the Riel family life, I am unable to understand why Louis Jr was sent away to Montreal to study. That eight-year commitment took lots of money, which they didn't have. And I believe the potential student had to have letters of recommendations from prominent people, very Orthodox. No one's time need be wasted; that is not how they lived life.
(Note: I quickly located two good sources on the Riel family on the internet: http://shsb.mb.ca/node/1367 and http://www.umanitoba.ca/canadian_wart...
Something I know from my own years of previous research is that Metis rebelled only after their right to be "free traders" to an international market, was shanghaied everywhere they turned. These Metis were the furtraders of the Northwest Company out of Montreal; they were nonpareil--a fact not fiction to being the best in the field (several generations had become coureur des bois). Yet, industrial developers demanded that Metis free-traders have a purchased permit now to hunt their traditional food, the bison. They were also boycotted and militantly threatened making free-trade absolutely forbidden (it was a huge shopping-mall monopoly mentality from the faraway shores of Europe). Their culture was being totally dismantled by these foreign powers and the Metis were willing to go to battle to defend their way of life!
Another thing I learned in my Metis experiences was meeting and learning the significance of the Scottish Sword Dance that a jig troupe from Edmonton Alberta explained to me one year while attending Red River West Rendezvous outside of Victoria BC. The story told to me was this: Even the Metis Red River jig (from the old countries of Europe sounded out on a fiddle) was outlawed and carried out by military guards who paced the area with rifles when ever Metis gathered. The Metis were jovial and loved to socialize, especially dance. So a cenurian of their own was stationed at an open window to give warning when the guards were suspicious. The upper bodies remained stoic as though having a conversation while the feet and legs profoundly dangled out the unified steps of First Nations and Scottish beats. The Red River Jig was hidden in plain sight. This is significant to the preservation of ones owns culture.
Rebels are labelled insurgents: people against the patriarchal control system and the restrictive financial monopolies. These early Manitoba Metis were not immoral and criminally minded. They were devout Catholics, not Protestants like the other power player. And, they were an all or nothing culture. They were highly skilled, intelligent, and gifted people! They learned from at least three different cultural realities, integrating them to themselves and to the next generations: the flower beadwork people; the People of the Plains; OTIPIMISIWAK, a People who could not be bought and sold.
The Manitoba Metis developed a military style hunting expedition: a chosen Captain of the Hunt set the rules and the penalties before hand. This developed and managed unity and intelligent skill levels and insured that no damage be done to the herd. They could not afford to fail as they had many mouths to feed, including their parents and others in their villages or colonies, as the opposition called their encampments. Survival depended upon success; winters in Manitoba were harsh. These Manitoba Metis saw through the smokey veil of hypocrisy that the Roman Catholic enforced on its members, while living devotedly to good moral community practices, where there was no division of labor, and they understood fully what equality was.
Why shouldn't Metis as a Nation be able to self-define and continue their own judicial system as they see fit?! Why is that not okay?! All that was already fully intact when the invaders arrived and squatted on their lands bringing their old perocial methods of teaching with them: the rule of law; discipline, the Jesuits who kept records of proceedings for the Church of Rome.
Louis Riel was made out to appear as a mad-mad by those who opposed his National organization, not as a worthy leader and prophet with any bearings. His desired religious reforms were justifiable against the Roman Catholic Church. Rumors and judgements spread like the wild fire that they are: consumption of everything in its path. I too have always believed in an individual's or group right to self-governance (born this way). That's what always drew me to the underdogs, the one's being bullied. Flannagan apparently did not share that view and chose to call Riel's preoccupation with religion a cult not a powerful reform movement.
In a nutshell, one man loves his Nation and First Nations across Turtle Island so much that he gathers them believing that they can take on European powers of both Church and State victoriously! Those were warriors with clear visions for humanity. Riel set up the Providential government and was placed as the leader; not merely a Community leader but a National one. He was also appointed during that time to sit in the legislative house for several years running. But then exiled for taking law into their own hands as a self-declared Provincial Government of Manitoba for five years. The Parochial Method prided in making examples of wrong behaviors public by exclusion! He used his exile time wisely learning the American judicial language and protocols, and increased his public speaking skills to other cultural groups who could become interested in living in Manitoba under his Providential Government, and gaining support to develop it further with financiers.
Louis Riel and the Manitoba Metis were just trouble to that civilized world and no consideration of their inherent rights was extended. Manitoba Metis definitely did not need approval or permission to be an authentic and autonomous Nation. One cannot be more inhuman than inflicting genocide on an established and populated region which is what was apparent. After all this analysis, I feel I cannot with good conscious recommend the book. It just doesn't have interpretive merits to the life of Metis Louis Riel, his metaphysical living of being human, his People, nor the Metis Rebellions. But I would like to know how Gabriel Dumont (Riel's right-hand-man and 2nd in command), another Manitoba Metis leader responded to the misunderstood leadership of Louis Riel during those years.
I do thank the author for giving his attention into the life of our valued National Metis leaders because it brings out my own research knowledge and allows me to write this review from my Metis perspective. Viva Louis Riel, first front line Metis resister to colonial Canada!
After thoughts are fun aren't they? At least sometimes? I find that so after reading what another researcher and author has scribed and published.
I can see merely from the title the direction this author will take his thoughts and compilation to. I must say that I was deeply impressed that twenty-years was spent searching, researching, reading, and re-reading, questioning what's read and asking the right questions on any documented materials across the world to form this thesis. The author stuck to the facts without drawing too many assumptions or asserting personal biases. However, there were several times that suggestive thoughts were cleverly placed within the content scope. Those are often misleading biases and I think should not be found in finer writing.
What I was most unhappy with is that so very little was provided on the family lineage, cultural ideals and customs, or the justifiable recourse Indigenous Peoples took to the hegemonic invasion of Europe. It isn't as if genealogy on Riel's family is difficult to discover!Flannagan, I believe, was too much under the influence of Academia to do this story of Louis Riel Jr any fair presentation. Metis are misinterpreted a great deal, often labelled "grandiose, arrogant, and intimidating, and called Bois Brules (burnt-wood)." Like other Nations, the variables across the breadth of the Metis Nation are immense. Myself like Louis Riel, believe that Metis hold the seeds to All Nations. Each Metis born should be able to relate to inequality to Metis as a Nation (and all others)with inherent rights as Indigenous Peoples displaced by foreign policies of elitism. Nearly all the industrial-colonization was delivered in the form of French and English languages, not their own.
You see, one cannot possibly write truthfully about anyone without a good understanding of their cultural upbringing. That is what shapes the human consciousness and behavioral responses. Maybe history teachers shouldn't write books! They can't seem to perceive except through their own cultural lens. But not all history instructors fit that category. I have heard of teachers who dress the part of the particular era they want students to understand. And how fun is that! Students watch cultural enactment unfold. Watching a play is extremely interactive, almost like putting a puzzle together. Then get into group discussions, wowzers!
Did Louis respect and love his father? I the reader don't get to know except that when Louis Sr dies Louis grieved for a long time and isolated with it for years. That is not good no matter what cultural upbringing one has had! Remember the saying "two's company, three's a crowd?" That's what was imposed upon Manitoba Metis. They might as well NOT have existed to the other majority of social peer groups.
Because of the fact that I don't get a close encounter with the Riel family life, I am unable to understand why Louis Jr was sent away to Montreal to study. That eight-year commitment took lots of money, which they didn't have. And I believe the potential student had to have letters of recommendations from prominent people, very Orthodox. No one's time need be wasted; that is not how they lived life.
(Note: I quickly located two good sources on the Riel family on the internet: http://shsb.mb.ca/node/1367 and http://www.umanitoba.ca/canadian_wart...
Something I know from my own years of previous research is that Metis rebelled only after their right to be "free traders" to an international market, was shanghaied everywhere they turned. These Metis were the furtraders of the Northwest Company out of Montreal; they were nonpareil--a fact not fiction to being the best in the field (several generations had become coureur des bois). Yet, industrial developers demanded that Metis free-traders have a purchased permit now to hunt their traditional food, the bison. They were also boycotted and militantly threatened making free-trade absolutely forbidden (it was a huge shopping-mall monopoly mentality from the faraway shores of Europe). Their culture was being totally dismantled by these foreign powers and the Metis were willing to go to battle to defend their way of life!
Another thing I learned in my Metis experiences was meeting and learning the significance of the Scottish Sword Dance that a jig troupe from Edmonton Alberta explained to me one year while attending Red River West Rendezvous outside of Victoria BC. The story told to me was this: Even the Metis Red River jig (from the old countries of Europe sounded out on a fiddle) was outlawed and carried out by military guards who paced the area with rifles when ever Metis gathered. The Metis were jovial and loved to socialize, especially dance. So a cenurian of their own was stationed at an open window to give warning when the guards were suspicious. The upper bodies remained stoic as though having a conversation while the feet and legs profoundly dangled out the unified steps of First Nations and Scottish beats. The Red River Jig was hidden in plain sight. This is significant to the preservation of ones owns culture.
Rebels are labelled insurgents: people against the patriarchal control system and the restrictive financial monopolies. These early Manitoba Metis were not immoral and criminally minded. They were devout Catholics, not Protestants like the other power player. And, they were an all or nothing culture. They were highly skilled, intelligent, and gifted people! They learned from at least three different cultural realities, integrating them to themselves and to the next generations: the flower beadwork people; the People of the Plains; OTIPIMISIWAK, a People who could not be bought and sold.
The Manitoba Metis developed a military style hunting expedition: a chosen Captain of the Hunt set the rules and the penalties before hand. This developed and managed unity and intelligent skill levels and insured that no damage be done to the herd. They could not afford to fail as they had many mouths to feed, including their parents and others in their villages or colonies, as the opposition called their encampments. Survival depended upon success; winters in Manitoba were harsh. These Manitoba Metis saw through the smokey veil of hypocrisy that the Roman Catholic enforced on its members, while living devotedly to good moral community practices, where there was no division of labor, and they understood fully what equality was.
Why shouldn't Metis as a Nation be able to self-define and continue their own judicial system as they see fit?! Why is that not okay?! All that was already fully intact when the invaders arrived and squatted on their lands bringing their old perocial methods of teaching with them: the rule of law; discipline, the Jesuits who kept records of proceedings for the Church of Rome.
Louis Riel was made out to appear as a mad-mad by those who opposed his National organization, not as a worthy leader and prophet with any bearings. His desired religious reforms were justifiable against the Roman Catholic Church. Rumors and judgements spread like the wild fire that they are: consumption of everything in its path. I too have always believed in an individual's or group right to self-governance (born this way). That's what always drew me to the underdogs, the one's being bullied. Flannagan apparently did not share that view and chose to call Riel's preoccupation with religion a cult not a powerful reform movement.
In a nutshell, one man loves his Nation and First Nations across Turtle Island so much that he gathers them believing that they can take on European powers of both Church and State victoriously! Those were warriors with clear visions for humanity. Riel set up the Providential government and was placed as the leader; not merely a Community leader but a National one. He was also appointed during that time to sit in the legislative house for several years running. But then exiled for taking law into their own hands as a self-declared Provincial Government of Manitoba for five years. The Parochial Method prided in making examples of wrong behaviors public by exclusion! He used his exile time wisely learning the American judicial language and protocols, and increased his public speaking skills to other cultural groups who could become interested in living in Manitoba under his Providential Government, and gaining support to develop it further with financiers.
Louis Riel and the Manitoba Metis were just trouble to that civilized world and no consideration of their inherent rights was extended. Manitoba Metis definitely did not need approval or permission to be an authentic and autonomous Nation. One cannot be more inhuman than inflicting genocide on an established and populated region which is what was apparent. After all this analysis, I feel I cannot with good conscious recommend the book. It just doesn't have interpretive merits to the life of Metis Louis Riel, his metaphysical living of being human, his People, nor the Metis Rebellions. But I would like to know how Gabriel Dumont (Riel's right-hand-man and 2nd in command), another Manitoba Metis leader responded to the misunderstood leadership of Louis Riel during those years.
I do thank the author for giving his attention into the life of our valued National Metis leaders because it brings out my own research knowledge and allows me to write this review from my Metis perspective. Viva Louis Riel, first front line Metis resister to colonial Canada!
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