Critical Book Review You Are Asked To Witness

Introduction

You Are Asked To Witness is a really good written and laid out piece of collaborative literature. The manner is free fluxing and it has first-class continuity even though it was written by multiple writers. I like how the book starts with the first contact with Xwel? tem and so continues through clip to the present twenty-four hours. It goes through St : cubic decimeter & # 333 ; life, history, and civilization in a really easy to read and straight frontward mode.

It besides examines the effects of the Xwel? tem influence on St? : lo civilization in a non-emotional attack. This made me experience as idea the writers were being honest and sincere in there effort to assist me understand what their history has really been like, non what I have been told by other persons. The method in which the events are described is much like an encyclopaedia, merely stating us the inside informations without any derogatory or condescending remarks, in other words,  Just the facts, maim. I like how there are quotation marks from Aboriginal people. I adds a personal feeling to the work every bit good as doing what the writer is speaking about a more touchable or existent.

There is non merely quotes from Aborigines but extracts from letters to higher-ups from the Europeans in charge. There is even stating of the Xwel tem side of the narrative, the grounds why the certain Xwel tem did the things they did. For illustration it talks about the grounds why Colonial Governor James Douglas tried to absorb the St : lo. He felt that assimilation of the St : lo would, Consequence in the moral lift of the native Indian races, in delivering them from debasement, and protecting them for subjugation and rapid decay ( Carlson, 1997, p.67 ) .

I besides like how in the foreword they said,  This volume is merely a series of readings. It is non the interpretation.  ( Carlson, 1997, p.iii ) . This is something that should be put into all history books because it is really true as there is bound to be person with a different reading, such as Trutch, if he were still alive today. Although I have said that this book reasonably much provides a indifferent reading of the manner in which the Xwel tem interacted with the St : lo, I have merely done some reading outside of this and can barely be considered an expert on the stuff presented here.

For case, the penetrations into the principle of Trutch’s motivations could be merely one of the many possible readings. I have seen merely this one reading but it was presented in an honest and consecutive frontward mode every bit good as mentioning Trutch’s letters so I am inclined to believe these writers over the partly right information that I learned in Social Studies 10.

I liked the images that were in this book excessively. They helped me to see what things were similar. For illustration there is the reference of dip sacking being used by St? : lo fishermen. I liked how it had images to attach to the text as I had a really different mental image of what dip gauze was. The images of the St? : lo with little syphiliss were an plus to the chapter that they were in because it made the inexorable world of disease more evident. Alternatively of the symptoms merely being imagined in my caput I was able to see how painful and enfeebling it would hold been.

Subtitle

The caption, The St: lo in Canada’s Pacific Coast History? simply informs the reader that in this book there will be treatment on the ways in which the St : lo influenced, contributed, and were involved in the history of Canada’s Pacific seashore. The usage of Canada in the rubric limits the treatment to the clip since the coming of the Xwel? tem. The history of Canada’s Pacific seashore starts with the coming of George Vancouver in 1808 and continues right to today. There is a chapter devoted to this inquiry, chapter 6: Peoples and the Development of the B.C. Engage Labour Economy. In that chapter there is duologue on what industries the St? : lo participated in every bit good as why they were able participated in them, viz. their purpose to keep their traditional seasonal manner of life.

Throughout this text there is changeless reference of the ways in which the St : lo have contributed to the commercialism, agribusiness, geographic expedition, and the piscaries on B.C. ‘s seashore. The writers gave detailed, non-condescending, and easy to read histories of how the St? : lo participated in each of these blessings to B.C.. There was talk of what the St : lo did and how it helped B.C.. For illustration the St : lo were built-in to the development of commercialism. Get downing with the salmon-trade at Ft. Langley in the 1820’s the St : lo were,  instrumental in the economic success of the European pelt and salmon trade.  ( Carlson, 1997, p.113 ) . The St : lo besides participated in major economic events such as the Gold Rush by packing and freighting supplies and people around every bit good every bit moving as ushers ( Carlson, 1997, p.115 ) .

The St : lo were besides indispensable in puting up the canneries which helped the B.C. fish industry. The St : lo were besides involved politically in the history of the West seashore. This text negotiations in great item the ways in which the Xwel tem degraded, subjected and humiliated the St: lo. When I read the parts of the book that talked about this topic I noticed that there no column remarks like,  the stupid Xwel tem or other similar emotional comments in the chief organic structure of the chapter. There were some in the commentary or citations but that merely gives the reader an penetration into what the certain people thought about what the writer was speaking approximately. This is a good manner of composing as it doesn? Ts make me emotional and allows me to do my determination on the book without het emotions acquiring in the manner.