Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS Makúk: A New History of Lekwungen territory was located Aboriginal-White Relations around present-day Victoria, and it experienced rapid white settlement. John Sutton Lutz The Lekwungen were, “of all the 2008 Aboriginal Peoples in British Columbia Vancouver: UBC Press, . and western Canada[,] ... the best 416 pp. Maps, Illus. $85.00 cloth, $32 95 positioned to succeed within the . paper. European, capitalist economy” (50). The Margaret Sequin Anderson Tsilhqot’in, in contrast, were located University of Northern British in one of the most remote parts of the province and engaged in a lengthy Columbia struggle to keep settlers out of their territory in the interior plateau. Despite akúk: A New History of these differences, the current situations Aboriginal-White Relations is a of these two groups are not dissimilar. thoroughM treatment of a significant Lutz does a thorough job of laying out subject in BC history. Lutz has how this came to be. examined the history of exchanges Much of the book is taken up by of things, labour, and ideas between Lutz’s discussion of Aboriginal workers, Aboriginal peoples and immigrants and this is an excellent addition to and how Aboriginal peoples were the literature; he delves deeply into displaced from their land and resources the subject and provides both a clear in the province while, at the same time, overview and detailed examples of providing the labour to build it – at Aboriginal contributions in specific least prior to their labour becoming industries such as fishing, logging, and marginalized and denigrated, and agriculture. He has built on the work their communities impoverished and of earlier scholars (such as Rolf Knight, “vanished.” The book moves from an Dianne Newell, Douglas Harris, abstract, rather sweeping theoretical and numerous others) and provides discussion of perspectives on exchange quotations, from both the scholarly and postmodernism to detailed histories literature and from Aboriginal people, of two specific Aboriginal groups: drawn from archives, correspondence the Lekwungen and the Tsilhqot’in. with government departments, and bc studies, no. 163, Autumn 2009 133 134 bc studies contemporary interviews. Of equal misunderstandings” (xii). Lutz uses this importance to his history of Aboriginal characterization of Chinook jargon as labour in various industries is Lutz’s a metaphor for the miscommunications analysis of the history of the current that often characterized relations welfare system and how it has altered between settlers and Aboriginal Aboriginal communities; he provides peoples in the history of the province, a detailed picture of the genesis of the but the metaphor seems to me to be welfare system in reluctant and racist unconvincing and the discussion of relief policies through to the trap in the language extraneous to the main which many Aboriginal communities thrust of the book. Creating the chapter now find themselves. The final chapter title “Pomo Wawa” (postmodernist discusses developments over the period vocabulary) as ersatz Chinook jargon from 1970 to 2007, including the impact for the discussion of the theoretical of recent court cases that seem to underpinnings of Lutz’s analysis was indicate that Aboriginal voices are more irksome than enlightening, at perhaps being understood to a greater least for this reader. degree than in the past and that there Makúk: A New History of Aboriginal- may yet be the possibility of productive White Relations is theoretically dialogue. A postscript crystallizes the sophisticated and richly detailed, and main thrust of the book, encouraging it will be valued as a reference for serious listening and real dialogue: “So researchers in several fields as well as long as we keep the silence, so long as by Aboriginal people. This book will we continue to ‘vanish,’ or in literary become a standard resource for research scholar Renée Bergland’s words, ‘ghost’ on BC history. I expect that, for the Indians, we will continue to be doomed next decade, it will fill the place in the to revisit the site of our haunting – the literature that Robin Fisher’s Contact history of aboriginal/non-aboriginal and Conflict held during previous encounters – over and over again” (308). decades. The book exemplifies the best One aspect of Makúk that I would of contemporary research on British like to note especially is the extensive Columbia’s history, and it will be an use of sidebars and illustrations of the inspiration to future researchers. people mentioned in the text, along with relevant quotations. These range from early drawings from the Cook expedition through to photographs of contemporary leaders and also include some of the theoreticians, such as Edward Said, upon whose work Lutz draws. The least successful aspect of the book, for me, is the attempt to frame it within a discussion of Chinook jargon, which Lutz characterizes as “a language amorphous enough that each [group] could interpret it in a way that made sense within its own cultural framework. It was a language of deliberate ambiguity” (xi), “a language whose very construction guaranteed Book Reviews 135 Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: no record of [Manby’s] survives of 186 The Epic Voyage of Captain this second visit to Hawaii” ( ), as if these passages are a significant part of George Vancouver the narrative. Instead, they add little, Stephen Bown and reinforce the peep show that was so important to eighteenth-century Toronto/Vancouver: Douglas and European imperialism. McIntyre, 2008. 256 pp. Illus. Personal conflicts dominate Bown’s $34.95 cloth, $21.95 paper. narrative, and with the exception of Bodega y Quadra, no one is likeable. Brian Richardson The most despicable character is University of Hawaii Thomas Pitt, the arrogant son of nobility and persistent troublemaker adness, Betrayal and the Lash is on the voyage. The conflict between his an accessible, succinct narrative claims to privilege and the discipline of Mof George Vancouver’s life, focusing the Royal Navy was a constant problem on the voyage he led into the Pacific for Vancouver, and in this case that in the late eighteenth-century. Bown’s conflict became very personal. Bown’s stated goal is to give Vancouver “a description of Pitt’s vendetta against more honourable place in history” Vancouver is a highlight of the book. (4) by rehabilitating his reputation, Another highlight was the which was ruthlessly attacked after description of Vancouver’s second the voyage. There are well-chosen powerful enemy: Joseph Banks. Both illustrations and interesting quotes, Cook and Vancouver had conflicts although unfortunately the author does with Banks, but the conflict with Cook not include a timeline, a map of the occurred when Banks had not achieved voyage, or references. significant power. Vancouver, on the There are some unfortunate errors other hand, faced a well-connected and distracting tendencies in the Banks capable of forcing his plans and book. Bown confuses Thomas Hobbes associates on Vancouver and of seeking with John Locke (16). He states that revenge when Vancouver resisted. As Cook’s journals were published “several with Pitt, the description of Banks’s months” after the voyage was completed vengeance offers a glimpse into English (8) when it fact it took roughly two society. Yet Banks not only tried to years. He also claims that Vancouver’s vilify Vancouver, he tried to write voyage, covering 65,000 miles, was Vancouver out of the country’s history, the “longest circumnavigation ever by and the details of Banks’s efforts are sailing ship and a significantly greater fascinating. distance than Cook’s second voyage” For a book that attempts to rehabilitate (232). Beaglehole, in contrast, notes Vancouver, the account of his character that Cook’s second voyage was roughly is surprisingly negative. Vancouver’s 70,000 miles (Exploration of the Pacific, anger is described throughout the 286). Finally, Bown tries to include too book. He frequently overreacts, his much titillating detail. The constant outbursts are “disgraceful” (134), and reference to Manby’s description of he is constantly impatient, annoyed, “native maidens” and “bewitching autocratic, and even cruel. Led by girls” becomes annoying. At one point his commitment to naval regulations, the author laments that “unfortunately Vancouver “always adhered to the letter 136 bc studies of his instructions, fearing that leniency interesting and accessible. Rather than would bring him censure or reprimand” rehabilitating Vancouver’s character, (117). He alienated most of the crew and however, he ends up reinforcing the his behaviour was a key reason why negative reputation Vancouver already morale on the ship was so poor (119). has. Vancouver appears better than how He was even described as going slowly he was portrayed by Pitt and Banks, insane (204). But rather than believing but only because the people around that Vancouver was largely responsible him, including Pitt and Banks, were for his fate, Bown sticks to the belief so despicable. There are many reasons that Vancouver has been wrongly why Vancouver failed, including his vilified, even if the details work against government, his crew, Pitt, Banks, his conclusion. and his own deteriorating health and As with Vancouver’s character, character. But explaining why he failed Bown also tries to improve the status does not mean that he succeeded. of Vancouver’s voyage. Yet the same Perhaps a more compelling narrative tension with the details arises. Bown structure, which the book hints at, claims that the voyage was monumental is that Vancouver is a tragic figure. but describes how the voyage was If he had not had such powerful ultimately inconsequential. Bown enemies, and if his voyages had not been claims that Vancouver’s “epic voyage overshadowed by the French Revolution to unknown Pacific America is one of and the Napoleonic wars, he might a handful of truly incredible voyages have joined Cook in the pantheon of in the history of seafaring, on par in its important navigators.

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