J. Edward Chamberlin
Autore di Oscar Wilde's London
Sull'Autore
J. Edward Chamberlin is University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto.
Fonte dell'immagine: Yvonne Mozee
Opere di J. Edward Chamberlin
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Data di nascita
- 1943
- Sesso
- male
- Nazionalità
- Canada
- Luogo di nascita
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Luogo di residenza
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Istruzione
- University of Toronto, PhD, English
- Organizzazioni
- Royal Society of Canada
Utenti
Recensioni
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 12
- Utenti
- 289
- Popolarità
- #80,898
- Voto
- 3.7
- Recensioni
- 4
- ISBN
- 34
- Lingue
- 2
If I know little about American history, I know next to nothing about Canada’s history. The Banker and the Blackfoot offers a peak into a tiny piece of the shared history of the two countries. Trading was a vital part of growth throughout the West and the various forts that dotted the landscape were the conduits for that trade and information.
This book is more a tale of Canada than the US but it is still a cross border story involving the Blackfoot tribe. I am not going to do a better job recounting the subject matter than the official synopsis so I will just refer you back to it. Fort McCleod was not familiar to me which of course rolls back to my abysmal track record on Canadian history. Fort Benton on the American side is in Montana and while I have not visited I’ve driven by – these two installations form the pivot points of the book.
The people populating the tale are quite an intriguing bunch; sometimes as they say, truth is stranger than fiction. It was a rough and wild time and so therefore there are some rough and wild folk who populated the area. But there were also plain, hardworking people. As we all know with the hindsight that comes from looking back, there were a lot of people who were out to just make a lot of money and who set out to steal what they could from the people of the First Nations.
This story does offer a small slice of time when people of different colors and cultures actually managed to get along. It didn’t last but there was glimmer of possibility. And of hope.
I found myself a little confused in the beginning (I did read the first 4 chapters all at once) until I figured out who was who but once I did it was much easier to maintain interest. It was a very interesting period in the West’s history, not to mention a contentious one. Neither country – the US or Canada – treated the Native Americans/First Peoples with any kind of respect. In fact, as we all know they were treated as badly as a people could be treated.
The Banker and the Blackfoot is an interesting look into a pivotal period in the history of the North American West. Full of the kind of characters you would expect from the time it shows that some tried to do what was right even when most were out for themselves.… (altro)