Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont

Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont
ISBN-10
014317875X
ISBN-13
9780143178750
Series
Extraordinary Canadians
Category
Biography & Autobiography
Pages
224
Language
English
Published
2010-10-05
Publisher
Penguin Canada
Author
Joseph Boyden

Description

Louis Riel is regarded by some as a hero and visionary, by others as a madman and misguided religious zealot. The Métis leader who fought for the rights of his people against an encroaching tide of white settlers helped establish the province of Manitoba before escaping to the United States. Gabriel Dumont was a successful hunter and Métis chief, a man tested by warfare, a pragmatist who differed from the devout Riel. Giller Prize—winning novelist Joseph Boyden argues that Dumont, part of a delegation that had sought out Riel in exile, may not have foreseen the impact on the Métis cause of bringing Riel home. While making rational demands of Sir John A. Macdonald's government, Riel seemed increasingly overtaken by a messianic mission. His execution in 1885 by the Canadian government still reverberates today. Boyden provides fresh, controversial insight into these two seminal Canadian figures and how they shaped the country.

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