I’ve told you that I’m finally going to pick back up my series of posts about traveling around British Columbia and Haida Gwaii in May and June of 2022.

Well, I am going to do exactly that. But before I get started, I thought it would be a nice idea to write a little something about Haida culture and history, and how things came to be in the modern era. Instead of covering these topics directly, I’m going to do so by reviewing three books about different facets of Haida culture and history.

Specifically, I cover:

• Raven’s Cry by Christine Harris, Young Adult-oriented fiction covering 175 generations of Haida history.
• Potlatch as Pedagogy: Learning Through Ceremony by Sarah Flourence Davidson and Robert Davidson, a book on indigenous pedagogy, filled with memories of cultural reawakening.
• Athlii Gwaii: Upholding Haida Law on Lyell Island, a collection of memories and photographs that provide primary source accounts of the successful grassroots effort to stop logging and get the Canadian government to recognize Gwaii Haanas.

I finished each of these books during June of 2022. Each of the three is extraordinary, and well worth reading.