What do you think?
Rate this book
Flint And Feather: The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake
A graceful biography that was a #1 national bestseller, Flint & Feather confirms Charlotte Gray’s position as a master biographer, a writer with a rare gift for transforming a historical character into a living, breathing woman who immediately captures our imagination.
In Flint & Feather, Charlotte Gray explores the life of this nineteenth-century daughter of a Mohawk chief and English gentlewoman, creating a fascinating portrait of a young woman equally at home on the stage in her “Indian� costume and in the salons of the rich and powerful. Uncovering Pauline Johnson’s complex and dramatic personality, Flint & Feather is studded with triumph and tragedy, mystery and romance—a first-rate biography blending turn-of-the-century Canadian history and the vibrant story of a woman whose unforgettable voice still echoes through the years.
464 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2002
7 people are currently reading
231 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Gray
67Ìýbooks136ÌýfollowersCharlotte Gray is one of Canada’s best-known writers, and author of eight acclaimed books of literary non-fiction. Born in Sheffield, England, and educated at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, she began her writing career in England as a magazine editor and newspaper columnist. After coming to Canada in 1979, she worked as a political commentator, book reviewer and magazine columnist before she turned to biography and popular history.
Charlotte's most recent book is Gold Diggers, Striking It Rich in the Klondike. In 2008, Charlotte published Nellie McClung, a short biography of Canada’s leading women’s rights activist in the Penguin Series, Extraordinary Canadians. Her 2006 bestseller, Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell, won the Donald Creighton Award for Ontario History and the City of Ottawa Book Award. It was also nominated for the Nereus Writers� Trust Non-Fiction Prize, the National Business Book Award and the Trillium Award. Her previous five books, which include Sisters in the Wilderness, The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill, Flint & Feather, The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson and A Museum Called Canada, were all award-winning bestsellers.
Charlotte appears regularly on radio and television as a political and cultural commentator. In 2004 she was the advocate for Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, for the CBC series: The Greatest Canadian. She has been a judge for several of Canada’s most prestigious literary prizes, including the Giller Prize for Fiction, the Charles Taylor Prize for Non-fiction and the Shaunessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.
Charlotte has been awarded five honorary doctorates, from Mount St. Vincent University, Nova Scotia, the University of Ottawa, Queen’s University, York University and Carleton University.
An Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, Charlotte is the 2003 Recipient of the Pierre Berton Award for distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history. She is former chair of the board of Canada’s National History Society, which publishes the magazine Canada’s History (formerly The Beaver.) She sits on the boards of the Ottawa International Authors Festival, the Art Canada Institute/Institut de l’Art Canadien, and the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Ottawa. Charlotte is a member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Charlotte lives in Ottawa with her husband George Anderson, and has three sons.
Charlotte's most recent book is Gold Diggers, Striking It Rich in the Klondike. In 2008, Charlotte published Nellie McClung, a short biography of Canada’s leading women’s rights activist in the Penguin Series, Extraordinary Canadians. Her 2006 bestseller, Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell, won the Donald Creighton Award for Ontario History and the City of Ottawa Book Award. It was also nominated for the Nereus Writers� Trust Non-Fiction Prize, the National Business Book Award and the Trillium Award. Her previous five books, which include Sisters in the Wilderness, The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill, Flint & Feather, The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson and A Museum Called Canada, were all award-winning bestsellers.
Charlotte appears regularly on radio and television as a political and cultural commentator. In 2004 she was the advocate for Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, for the CBC series: The Greatest Canadian. She has been a judge for several of Canada’s most prestigious literary prizes, including the Giller Prize for Fiction, the Charles Taylor Prize for Non-fiction and the Shaunessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.
Charlotte has been awarded five honorary doctorates, from Mount St. Vincent University, Nova Scotia, the University of Ottawa, Queen’s University, York University and Carleton University.
An Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, Charlotte is the 2003 Recipient of the Pierre Berton Award for distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history. She is former chair of the board of Canada’s National History Society, which publishes the magazine Canada’s History (formerly The Beaver.) She sits on the boards of the Ottawa International Authors Festival, the Art Canada Institute/Institut de l’Art Canadien, and the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Ottawa. Charlotte is a member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Charlotte lives in Ottawa with her husband George Anderson, and has three sons.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 23, 2022
I remember memorizing the poem “The Song My Paddle Sings� at my one-room country school in Saskatchewan, but not much else about this gifted poet. What an extraordinary woman, with a white mother and a Mohawk father who married in 1853 despite resistance from both their families. At one time Pauline was nationally famous, in part because she did hundreds of performances right across the country. She was able to turn her mixed blood into an asset. Sadly, this independent spirit who never married died of breast cancer aged 50. This was a very engaging and educational read.
June 25, 2018
Until approximately a month ago, Pauline Johnson was simply the name of a local school. It was on our way to the Six Nations Reserve to watch my youngest play lacrosse that I noticed one of the roads was also named Pauline Johnson. After a quick Google search, I "discovered" the Mohawk poet from Six Nations and I was instantly intrigued.
Johnson was a strong, talented woman. A true adventurer. this is a well written biographer in which a fascinating woman's life is placed in the context of a new country and its politics, social classes and racism.
Johnson was a strong, talented woman. A true adventurer. this is a well written biographer in which a fascinating woman's life is placed in the context of a new country and its politics, social classes and racism.
July 12, 2021
Charlotte Gray’s biography of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake, does one of Canada’s earliest and most accomplished writers and performers the honour of telling her life based not only on the author’s published work and many secondary resources (other biographies, journalism, etc), but on more than a 100 letters of private correspondence, allowing readers to hear Pauline’s intimate, interpersonal voice, unfiltered by editors or reporters. Gray sifts through and scavenges primary materials from a long list of archival and research institutions. The result is a scrupulous, nuanced, comprehensive and enthralling biographical romp alongside one of this country’s most ambitious, charismatic and complex literary personalities.
Reading this biography of Canada’s least known Confederation poet at this turbulent time in our history was both eye-opening and jaw-dropping. How is it that I’d never heard of E. Pauline Johnson (1861-1913)? Why have I learned the words of Canada’s nationalist Remembrance Day poem “In Flanders Fields� (written by a man for fallen men) and not “The Song My Paddle Sings,� a lyrical homage to life in the great Canadian outdoors written by a Brantford poetess, a song she made into a smash hit with North American canoe and camping enthusiasts of the early 20th century?
Kudos to Margaret Atwood for including two of Pauline Johnson’s poems in the New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English in 1982 and beginning the rehabilitation of a Canadian poet of mixed Mohawk-British origins whose verse compares favourably (according to various well-reputed critics) to that of her male establishment poets (Carman, Lampman, Roberts) who lived in much greater comfort than Pauline. Highest praise to Pauline Johnson for smashing the cedar ceiling of literary accomplishment of her times, for being original and true to her nature! What other Canadian poet adventures across Canada 19 times by rail, coach and ferry to bring her glamour and earthiness to audiences from the smallest logging and mining towns to the hautest Ottawa and Toronto opera houses... not to mention London, GB.
Now seems like the right moment to reissue Gray’s masterful Flint and Feather, a book that reads like a popular history revealing as much about Pauline’s life as about the times in which she strove to make her mark on literature and Canadian society. Pauline’s elder siblings attended the earliest residential schools. She was spared. Pauline grew to champion her Red race and blood whereas her sister and mother disapproved of her life on the stage. 100 years after her death, this biography coincides with a Renaissance in Canada’s First Nations. Let’s hope Pauline Johnson’s renown continues to flourish. Her last work collects the legends of BC’s Salish people. I’m eager to read The Legends of Vancouver. Looking forward to reading the original Flint and Feather for that matter.
Reading this biography of Canada’s least known Confederation poet at this turbulent time in our history was both eye-opening and jaw-dropping. How is it that I’d never heard of E. Pauline Johnson (1861-1913)? Why have I learned the words of Canada’s nationalist Remembrance Day poem “In Flanders Fields� (written by a man for fallen men) and not “The Song My Paddle Sings,� a lyrical homage to life in the great Canadian outdoors written by a Brantford poetess, a song she made into a smash hit with North American canoe and camping enthusiasts of the early 20th century?
Kudos to Margaret Atwood for including two of Pauline Johnson’s poems in the New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English in 1982 and beginning the rehabilitation of a Canadian poet of mixed Mohawk-British origins whose verse compares favourably (according to various well-reputed critics) to that of her male establishment poets (Carman, Lampman, Roberts) who lived in much greater comfort than Pauline. Highest praise to Pauline Johnson for smashing the cedar ceiling of literary accomplishment of her times, for being original and true to her nature! What other Canadian poet adventures across Canada 19 times by rail, coach and ferry to bring her glamour and earthiness to audiences from the smallest logging and mining towns to the hautest Ottawa and Toronto opera houses... not to mention London, GB.
Now seems like the right moment to reissue Gray’s masterful Flint and Feather, a book that reads like a popular history revealing as much about Pauline’s life as about the times in which she strove to make her mark on literature and Canadian society. Pauline’s elder siblings attended the earliest residential schools. She was spared. Pauline grew to champion her Red race and blood whereas her sister and mother disapproved of her life on the stage. 100 years after her death, this biography coincides with a Renaissance in Canada’s First Nations. Let’s hope Pauline Johnson’s renown continues to flourish. Her last work collects the legends of BC’s Salish people. I’m eager to read The Legends of Vancouver. Looking forward to reading the original Flint and Feather for that matter.
June 27, 2020
Love reading 19th century Canadian history and love reading Charlotte Gray's takes on its fascinating characters. This, the sixth of her books I've read, did not fail to live up to my high expectations. I need to visit Chiefswood now!
November 30, 2014
Interesting life and times of Pauline Johnson , poet, author and stage performer . She was mixed race with a Mohawk father and English mother. Her family lived as English gentry until her father died leaving the family to cope as best they could. Pauline was very popular and soon discovered her muse. She wrote poems about nature, canoeing and stories from her Indian heritage. After several failed romances, she began to travel to small towns to dramatize and recite her poetry. A variety of side men went with her to assist her with the many arrangements and hardships of the traveling life.
Pauline included several trips to England where her performances were in demand. She used her visits to try to find sponsors and those who would champion her career. She took to wearing a buckskin dress with bear claw necklace. Her beauty was quite outstanding and her performances were well loved. However, the passion for the Red Indian began to fade and she was criticized for lack of new material. Finally she suffers the pains of aging and unable to travel, loses her income. By this time, she is recognized as a force in Canadian literature and friend help her publish enough work to live on.
Charlotte Gray depicts the life and times of this era (late 1800s). She explores the complicated relationship Pauline has with her family and her Mohawk heritage. Late in life Pauline adopts Vancouver as here home and makes deep friendships with the coastal tribes in the area. Well written book about an interesting and unique character in Canadian literary history.
Pauline included several trips to England where her performances were in demand. She used her visits to try to find sponsors and those who would champion her career. She took to wearing a buckskin dress with bear claw necklace. Her beauty was quite outstanding and her performances were well loved. However, the passion for the Red Indian began to fade and she was criticized for lack of new material. Finally she suffers the pains of aging and unable to travel, loses her income. By this time, she is recognized as a force in Canadian literature and friend help her publish enough work to live on.
Charlotte Gray depicts the life and times of this era (late 1800s). She explores the complicated relationship Pauline has with her family and her Mohawk heritage. Late in life Pauline adopts Vancouver as here home and makes deep friendships with the coastal tribes in the area. Well written book about an interesting and unique character in Canadian literary history.
December 30, 2016
Beautifully written and engaging biography of the celebrated Canadian poet and writer. E. Pauline Johnson was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Englishwoman who worked as a performance poet and storyteller in late nineteenth/early twentieth century Canada. Gray includes excerpts of her work (which I was unfamiliar with) as well as letters and photos and a tremendous amount of detail about her life, all of which make Johnson come alive. Gray does a nice job discussing the ways in which being a mixed-race single woman impacted Johnson personally as well as how her work and her life were perceived. I have read a lot about the time period, but I can't recall any other biographies from this perspective (but am definitely going to look around. And will be reading more of Johnson's work). I ended the book wishing that I could have met her, which I can't say I feel about most autobiographical subjects. I also found myself thinking that she would make a fabulous addition to any steampunk world. Highly recommended!
January 21, 2016
I had to read this book for book club. Although a really interesting insight into the life of E. Pauline Johnson, the book was hard to get into at first. It took me about 100 pages to find it interesting. Don't get me wrong, I love reading biographies and I loved the Canadian history associated with it. However, some parts of the book were too detailed and too tedious to read. In retrospect, I appreciated that it was written more like a story than a biography. I recommend this book to anyone who likes Canadian history.
February 21, 2016
Another fascinating biography with a great deal of Canadian history as well.
February 21, 2023
I think I was in grade 4 or 5 when our teacher told us about the famed Canadian poet, Pauline Johnson. Her story intrigued me. A Mohawk poet who, not only travelled across Canada, but also traveled to England a few times performing. When I saw Charlotte Gray's newest history work, Flint and Feather, it reignited my interest in her and, of course, had to read it.
Pauline Johnson was not just a renowned poet, but was also well know for her eclectic performances. As she was of mixed heritage, Mohawk and English, she create an act which would highlight both sides of her roots. In one act she would dress in her authentic aboriginal garb and recite her poems about canoeing and aboriginal stories she heard or grew up on.
In the second act, she would dress as an English debutant with poems regarding the upper English lifestyle she had experienced. It was the two different styles, all in one performance which kept people filling the seats of theater everywhere.
Gray does and excellent job in telling the story of her life. Her successes and pitfalls. Her constant state of being poor and in debt, even though she was constantly performing. The reader can see the extensive research which went into Gray's work. It's a tale worth reading.
Pauline Johnson was not just a renowned poet, but was also well know for her eclectic performances. As she was of mixed heritage, Mohawk and English, she create an act which would highlight both sides of her roots. In one act she would dress in her authentic aboriginal garb and recite her poems about canoeing and aboriginal stories she heard or grew up on.
In the second act, she would dress as an English debutant with poems regarding the upper English lifestyle she had experienced. It was the two different styles, all in one performance which kept people filling the seats of theater everywhere.
Gray does and excellent job in telling the story of her life. Her successes and pitfalls. Her constant state of being poor and in debt, even though she was constantly performing. The reader can see the extensive research which went into Gray's work. It's a tale worth reading.
June 27, 2019
I'm not a huge fan of biographies (I do enjoy memoirs) but this one seemed well researched and was interesting enough to motivate me to keep reading (especially the second half of the book).
After reading the biography I'm still not sure how I feel about Pauline Johnson. I had never heard of her before. I love that she was a New Woman, blazing the way for and inspiring Canadian feminists and suffragettes (notably Nellie McClung). I'm unsure how to feel about her telling the stories of an Indigenous nation not her own (Squamish) and what seems like an avoidance of her own Indigenous heritage (Mohawk). Is this cultural appropriation? She certainly did a lot to challenge racism against Indigenous people in her time. I think it was likely important to have any Indigenous voice be heard by settlers even if they were telling stories that didn't necessarily belong to them.
If anyone has any thoughts, articles, etc. on this I would be interested in learning more about how Squamish and Mohawk (and any Indigenous group) feels about this.
After reading the biography I'm still not sure how I feel about Pauline Johnson. I had never heard of her before. I love that she was a New Woman, blazing the way for and inspiring Canadian feminists and suffragettes (notably Nellie McClung). I'm unsure how to feel about her telling the stories of an Indigenous nation not her own (Squamish) and what seems like an avoidance of her own Indigenous heritage (Mohawk). Is this cultural appropriation? She certainly did a lot to challenge racism against Indigenous people in her time. I think it was likely important to have any Indigenous voice be heard by settlers even if they were telling stories that didn't necessarily belong to them.
If anyone has any thoughts, articles, etc. on this I would be interested in learning more about how Squamish and Mohawk (and any Indigenous group) feels about this.
December 23, 2017
This book is very appropriate subject matter for Canadians to read as part of the 150 year celebration of Canada's formation. Her story starts on the 6 Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario, in 1861 and follows the development of her career and the growth of the nation to her death in Vancouver in 1913. I found the tales of her life through the 1880's to 1900 gave me a different perspective on young Canada than I had ever acquired through previous reading and teaching of Canada's history. Pauline is shown to be a remarkable personality from a remarkable family with a dedication to her dedication to her remarkable people, the Mohawk tribes, and to all other "Red" people of Canada. For me it was very enjoyable as a slice of history, a biography of a great Canadian, and a poet who only lacked the necessary education to be a great poet.
August 8, 2020
Wonderful biography of E. Pauline Johnson and the world she lived in and created. Filled with lots of details despite the loss of primary sources in the way of letters, Gray delights us with the enigma that is Johnson. Crossing many boundaries, Johnson is shown with the complexity and the humility that makes her astounding as a subject.
November 3, 2017
I couldn't finish. Got half way and lost interest which is surprising as I love Charlotte Grays writing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2018
Interesting insight into the life of a woman straddling the indigenous world and the “white� world and how she fit into both.
March 8, 2019
It never quite gripped me, but it was well-written and Pauline Johnson's life was interesting in how she navigated her dual identities (Mohawk and English) through her poetry.
Read
January 19, 2020Interesting book but I found it dragged and I was unable to finish it in the 3 weeks. The bookm describes how she earned her living and how proud she was of her native ancestors.
December 22, 2021
The book was good but it started to drag after 200 pages. Too long.
December 16, 2024
Started off strong but couldn’t hold my interest in the back half.
November 3, 2008
Flint & Feather, The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake by Charlotte Gray
Having grown up on the "Legends of Vancouver" and knowing so well the places described therein, having known since a little girl of Pauline Johnson's resting place by Siwash Rock, (indeed, I have often visited her grave through the years - Betty), I was thrilled to be able to review Charlotte Gray's book, Flint & Feather, and she does not disappoint! All the passion, determination, sensibility and presentation comes through strong and clear.
The book begins with a lengthy genealogy which some may find a bit tiresome, but to me it brought a vivid sense of history and pride, and I would not have skipped over it for anything. This background is essential to knowing how she and her siblings became who they were. Throughout the book, this pre-history plays a major role in Pauline’s life and destiny and how she handled it. Personally, I was amazed at how much I did not know of Canadian history both Iroquois and British, and how supportive the Iroquois Confederation was of the British in these early times, how civilized, organized and productive their people were, and what an impact they had on our history. In fact, a quick search on the Internet tells me “The Six Nations: Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth�
Charlotte Gray has brought to life so completely Pauline's story that I found myself feeling as though I was there. I particularly enjoyed reading the excerpts of Pauline’s letters included in the narrative. It is incredible to think that she lived in the period 1861-1913, a time in which neither native, nor woman had much say in the world. Breaking into the literary “old boys club� was almost unheard of. Pauline was a trooper, and largely ignored what wasn’t quite “proper� to the British elite. However, she overcomes this as she does every other obstacle. This is without a doubt the best book on Pauline I have ever read. So many names are familiar, how she slips into two personas is absolutely amazing. This book does not only deal with Pauline's extremely unusual and fascinating life, but we learn a lot of history and geography throughout the entire book; not shoved down our throats, but just through the narrative, the poems and the travel. Pauline travelled everywhere... from the elite of London to the tiny mining and logging camps of western Canada. A truly amazing book, entertaining and honest, I highly recommend this read nut just to every Canadian, but the northern US and Britain as well. I am proud to learn of an amazing woman who overcame, in fact embraced, her dual race, one who fought the discrepancies between men and women of the day, and still reached the top! Even the terrible disease she fought to her death she overcame through sheer determination far longer that anyone would have imagined possible. This book is well worth reading about a woman who is endearing and a major force in getting us where we are today. Excellent book! My congratulations and adulation to Charlotte Gray!
Having grown up on the "Legends of Vancouver" and knowing so well the places described therein, having known since a little girl of Pauline Johnson's resting place by Siwash Rock, (indeed, I have often visited her grave through the years - Betty), I was thrilled to be able to review Charlotte Gray's book, Flint & Feather, and she does not disappoint! All the passion, determination, sensibility and presentation comes through strong and clear.
The book begins with a lengthy genealogy which some may find a bit tiresome, but to me it brought a vivid sense of history and pride, and I would not have skipped over it for anything. This background is essential to knowing how she and her siblings became who they were. Throughout the book, this pre-history plays a major role in Pauline’s life and destiny and how she handled it. Personally, I was amazed at how much I did not know of Canadian history both Iroquois and British, and how supportive the Iroquois Confederation was of the British in these early times, how civilized, organized and productive their people were, and what an impact they had on our history. In fact, a quick search on the Internet tells me “The Six Nations: Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth�
Charlotte Gray has brought to life so completely Pauline's story that I found myself feeling as though I was there. I particularly enjoyed reading the excerpts of Pauline’s letters included in the narrative. It is incredible to think that she lived in the period 1861-1913, a time in which neither native, nor woman had much say in the world. Breaking into the literary “old boys club� was almost unheard of. Pauline was a trooper, and largely ignored what wasn’t quite “proper� to the British elite. However, she overcomes this as she does every other obstacle. This is without a doubt the best book on Pauline I have ever read. So many names are familiar, how she slips into two personas is absolutely amazing. This book does not only deal with Pauline's extremely unusual and fascinating life, but we learn a lot of history and geography throughout the entire book; not shoved down our throats, but just through the narrative, the poems and the travel. Pauline travelled everywhere... from the elite of London to the tiny mining and logging camps of western Canada. A truly amazing book, entertaining and honest, I highly recommend this read nut just to every Canadian, but the northern US and Britain as well. I am proud to learn of an amazing woman who overcame, in fact embraced, her dual race, one who fought the discrepancies between men and women of the day, and still reached the top! Even the terrible disease she fought to her death she overcame through sheer determination far longer that anyone would have imagined possible. This book is well worth reading about a woman who is endearing and a major force in getting us where we are today. Excellent book! My congratulations and adulation to Charlotte Gray!
July 27, 2016
I first encountered Pauline Johnson's poems when I was a girl--they still showed up in old anthologies in use in schools--and she was one of those writers who made a strong and early impression on me. I've since taught some of her work to university students, and they always react well to it. It's the kind of poetry even people who don't much like poetry or who find poetry too highbrow or intimidating can like. Which is probably part of the reason she was such a star in her time. With her personal charisma and performance skills, she must have been a powerhouse on stage. Her work fell out of fashion in the mid/later twentieth-century, largely because her radicalism is communicated within such seemingly unthreatening, conventional structures--rollicking rhythms, direct language, high emotions, even melodrama. She was talking mostly to an audience who regarded aboriginal people either as savages or as figures from storybooks, not as full human beings with all of human beings's complexities and possibilities; she knew how to talk to such people. Critics and at least some readers now want something more overtly confrontational, less apparently accommodating. Anyway, this is a good, readable biography, with interesting things to say about how she crossed boundaries and what such boundary-crossing cost her on a personal level. If she had had more resources, better access to publication and means of earning a living, she could have toured a lot less and written a lot more and invested more of her energy and talent into writing more challenging work that pushed both her and her readers' limits. But I'm grateful for what she did accomplish, and admiring of it.
One real complaint: the quality of the images in this book. There are lots of pictures and I love it when a biography is full of pictures, but the quality of their reproduction here is so poor that often I couldn't tell what was in the pictures without the captions. They look like bad photocopies, with speckled grey shadows emerging from blotchy pools of black ink. Frustrating. I have never seen such poor image quality in a book published by a major press.
One real complaint: the quality of the images in this book. There are lots of pictures and I love it when a biography is full of pictures, but the quality of their reproduction here is so poor that often I couldn't tell what was in the pictures without the captions. They look like bad photocopies, with speckled grey shadows emerging from blotchy pools of black ink. Frustrating. I have never seen such poor image quality in a book published by a major press.
August 17, 2013
This book is a must read for anyone who wants to delve into Canadian literary history. E Pauline Johnson is a Canadian Cultural icon as she embodies two parts of the 'whole' of the initial Canadian colonial experience over the past century and a half. Pauline is part Native/Canadian and part British/Canadian
October 2, 2010
Fascinating story, but what I found particularly interesting was Tekahionwake's deliberate, conscious manipulation of white expectations and her creation of a "Native" persona for the stage, at that time in history.
November 16, 2016
I liked all the details.
Want to read
July 13, 2017November 2017
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.