Strange Empire (Borealis Books) [Paperback]

Howard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1994 | Series: Borealis Books

With passion and verve, Howard narrates the tragic story of Louis Riel, the Metis people, and their struggle for a homeland on the plains of the U.S.-Canada border.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It sensitively recounts an important episode from the tragic side of the continent's history that needs to be known and remembered." -- Michigan Historical Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 637 pages
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press (November 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873512987
• ISBN-13: 978-0873512985
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > History > Americas > Canada

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange Empire, December 5, 2006

By 

Barney Considine (Missoula, Montana USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strange Empire (Borealis Books) (Paperback)

In large measure, this book is the history of Louis Riel, a Metis leader, and his efforts to gain recognition and independence for the Metis people. Since the ethnic group usually called Metis was closely tied to Riel, the book is also a partial history of that group.

Metis is a French word that can be translated as "mixed blood." In a narrow sense, one might think of the Metis as the offspring from intermarriage between the French and Indians (mostly Cree) of eastern Canada during the early days of the fur trade. In a practical sense, the group must be broadened to include at least Chippewa, English, and Scot parentage. In the context of the twentieth century, an even broader definition is used. However, some combination of white and Indian linage is usually a prerequisite.

This book is a classic by a legendary author of Montana history. Joseph Kinsey Howard (1906-1951) is also known for another classic, "Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome," a book considered for decades as the definitive history of Montana. Howard spent much of his short life in an area of Montana that has a significant Metis population. He understood the Metis, respected them, and spent years preparing to write "Strange Empire."

The original publication was in 1952. More recent issues include an introduction by Nicholas C. P. Vrooman, Director of the Institute for Metis Studies at the College of Great Falls, Montana. This introduction is a magnificent addition.

The Metis were primarily a product of the fur trade. Their language was a hybrid of French and Indian; definitely not English. Most of the Metis communities remained in close contact with the local Indian tribes. Many of these mixed blood people were drawn to the Red River which flows north from the present states of Minnesota and North Dakota into Canada and on to Hudson Bay.

Louis Riel had trained for priesthood, but hadn't become a priest. Despite occasional self-doubt, Riel had many characteristics of leadership. He was literate and a good speaker and, more importantly, was fluent in English. The Metis attempted to establish their own nation in the Red River Valley. Howard beautifully summarizes the Metis situation: "This conflict between the Metis and the Canadian government was not only a battle over native and Euro-American claims, but also an age-old fight between Catholicism and Protestantism, English and French, English and Irish, and English and American causes." Louis Riel and the Red River Metis faced the Canadian forces with little loss of life on either side. Some people feel that the decision of whether the United States or Canada would rule what is now central and western Canada hung in the balance. The Metis won many of their goals but came under Canadian rule. One result is that the Red River part of Canada became the province of Manitoba in 1870. However, for his part in the "rebellion," Canada exiled Riel for five years and he went to the United States.

The Metis were buffalo hunters but were significantly different from Indians. They dressed differently. Many combined their hunting with agriculture. They had their own language. They had their own culture, a melding of the cultures from which they came. They were much more efficient at commercial buffalo hunting than were the Indians. Their background in the fur trade meant that they had the weapons, hunting experience, and trading expertise needed. Synonymous with the Metis is the Red River cart. Pulled by draft animals, it had high wheels and could carry several hundred pounds. With these carts, the Metis could transport the hides, pemmican, and dried meat of many buffalo to market locations. Twice yearly, the Metis gathered in a large force to go to the buffalo herds.

As the buffalo herds dwindled, the Metis went further west for their hunts. As a result, Metis communities developed in the Turtle Mountain area of North Dakota, the Milk River country of Montana, and Saskatchewan in Canada. Later, communities developed near Lewistown and Great Falls, Montana, (note that most of these locations were undeveloped, and probably unnamed, when the Metis first arrived). Louis Riel moved westward also and became a teacher at a mission in the area of Great Falls.

In Saskatchewan, the Metis were experiencing problems dealing with the Canadian government; problems very similar to what they had experienced in the Red River country. In 1884, the Canadian Metis appealed to Riel to serve as their leader and negotiator. Riel answered the call. Ultimately, an armed conflict evolved with the Canadian military and Mounties facing the Metis and their Indian allies. This time the Metis were crushed. Louis Riel was tried and hung.

There is disagreement concerning Riel's role in Saskatchewan. Some people feel he became insane, some dispute that opinion. He felt that God guided him and when a disagreement arose with the Catholic priests, he attempted to separate the Metis from the Catholic Church. The Metis uprising in Saskatchewan was probably doomed from the beginning, but Riel made things worse by his indecision between peaceful negotiations and the use of force.

In 1982, an amendment to the Canadian constitution gave the Metis aboriginal rights. In the United States, the Metis do not have a legal relationship with the government and do not have a reservation or enjoy other rights granted to Native Americans. In each recent session of the U.S. Congress, there have been bills concerning what is often termed Montana's Landless Indians. Many of this group are Metis.

This book reads almost like a novel. It is well researched. Every book published since "Strange Empire" and containing a mention of the Metis, references Howard's book. A comprehensive and modern history of the Metis is needed but at the moment, this reviewer is unaware of anything near as useful as "Strange Empire."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting saga of a forgotten revolt by a dispossessed people, August 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Strange Empire (Borealis Books) (Paperback)

A century ago, North America almost had a fourth nation, Assiniboia. That would-be nation's leader, a poet, religious zealot and one-time schoolteacher named Louis Riel, once was considered a traitor ro Canada but now is being revered and "rehabilitated" as one of the founders of the Dominion of Canada. Riel was "drafted" as leader of the Metis, "mixed blood" children of the fur trade, when Canada was reneging on its promises to these people who carried on the cultures of both European and indigenous ancentry. (Today, Celtic and French folklorists visit Metis in Western Canada and Montana to record unblemished versions of tradition folk music long dead in their original mother countries.) Howard, a legend in Montana journalism and history himself, penned his masterpiece in "Strange Empire." He gets down to the basics of the struggle for Western North America and some of the more haunting passages deal with the pyschlogical effects of such white man's diseases as smallpox and alchohol and their role in subjugating the natives a century or so ago. Riel was hanged for his insurgence, but had he been more decisive in battle, the maps -- and language patterns -- of much of North America would be much different.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal North American history of the Metis and Louis Riel., December 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Strange Empire (Borealis Books) (Paperback)

The genesis story of the Metis in North America, this book describes the evolution of the 'New Nation' and its place in continental history. Arising from the Fur Trade a new race of people, the Mixed-bloods, being descendents of Celtic Orkney and Highland Scot and Celtic Normandy and Brittany French fathers and predominantly Algonkian Cree and Chippewa mothers, create a new native North American identity. The Metis struggle to maintain their place as true descendents of aboriginal lineage while expressing the finer elements of their European paternal heritage. A finely crafted narrative of the attempt to affirm the cultural, economic, and political equity of the Metis, and all aboriginal peoples during the reconfiguration of the continent, Strange Empire is a powerful, dramitic, and epic telling of the most significant 'missing link' in our understanding of how the North American continent came to be.