About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
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Description
Living on the banks of the turbulent Fraser River, the Nlaka'pamux people of Spuzzum have a long history of contact with non-aboriginal peoples. They watched as Hudson's Bay Company employees hacked a path through the mountains for the fur brigades, and over time they found themselves in the path of the Cariboo road, the CPR, and virtually every commercial and province-building initiative undertaken in the region over the past two centuries. Juxtaposing historical narratives and cultural interpretation from the community of Spuzzum with archival information, this book explores the history of Spuzzum in the light of concepts central to the Nlaka'pamux definition of family, political authority, land, and cosmos.
Contributor Notes
Andrea Laforet is director of the Canadian Ethnology Service at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Annie York (1904-91) was born in Spuzzum and lived there most of her adult life.
Awards
- Winner, Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine
Editorial Reviews
This book stands as part of an ongoing awareness of Native cultural persistence, alongside a long history of adaptation to the Euro-Canadian economy and society.
— Western Historical Quarterly
A sympathetic re-creation of the native side of that history. This is a model ethnohistory and a superb commentary on the complexities of being both historian and anthropologist ... This finely crafted book boasts good maps, numerous illustrations ...
— Choice
This text is lucid and jargon-free, and the photographs interesting and well placed ... Spuzzum will certainly be of interest to anthropologists, local historians, and specialists who have been following the debate on the writing of Native history.
— Canadian Book Review Annual 4163
