North Spirit: Sojourns Among the Cree and Ojibway
Jiles (Univ. of Texas, San Antonio), a respected poet, has crafted a flowing, evocative personal narrative based on her seven years of work as a journalist in northern Ontario. She describes it as "a book of creative nonfiction" in which some of the events, times, and places have been rearranged for literary purposes but all the incidents are true. Jiles went to the Canadian North in 1974 to help set up an Indian radio station and later worked as a reporter for an Indian newspaper serving the Cree and Ojibway people. Her vignettes of northern life run the gamut from joy to pathos, from hope to tragedy. Jiles is painfully aware that the technologies she is helping to introduce will forever change the traditional way of life. Throughout her travels among the Cree and Ojibway, she seeks out elders-the older, respected members of each small village-to learn more of the traditions and mythology that are rapidly disappearing in the wake of technological progress. Jiles's lilting prose beautifully captures the spirit of the Canadian North and the vibrant though changing life of its native people. Highly recommended.Elizabeth Salt, Courtright Memorial Lib., Westerville, OhioCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.