Brilliant, Peter. This has to be the "Best" (pun intended) no holds barred, no punches pulled, book review that I have ever read. In fairness, "The Knowing" will no doubt rank among the top ten best fictions of the year and in all likelihood, be the winning recipient of the prestigious Giller Prize award for best fiction. Its not hard to recognize the tangible jealousy and resentment reflected in Talaga's writing. It is symptomatic of most indigenous activists who blame their failings on main stream Canadians who for years have generously and financially extended the helping hand of kindness for their wellbeing and social advancement. Perhaps this situation is best reflected by the age old proverb of, "never bite the hand that feeds you."
Very interesting and well written article. Ms. Talaga's Polish history - that side of "knowing," would likely be much more traumatizing than her Indigenous history, if in fact bloodlines carry trauma through the generations. (a recent unproven psychological hypothesis). It's estimated that one-fifth of the population of pre WW2 Poland perished in that conflict, most of them civilians, over 5 and a half million people. The German SS shot thousands of teachers, priests, and other intellectuals in mass killings. Nazi officials sent thousands more to the newly built Auschwitz concentration camp, to Stutthof, and to other concentration camps in Germany where non-Jewish Poles constituted the majority of inmates until March 1942. That was fairly recent. Talaga doesn't even mention this in "The Knowing."
Everything I've seen from Talaga (limited, I admit) indicates that she is a bitter, angry radical.
"Too many young historians enter the profession aiming at activism rather than truth"
Any historian that abandons truth as the gold standard to be sought is not a historian.
Brilliant, Peter. This has to be the "Best" (pun intended) no holds barred, no punches pulled, book review that I have ever read. In fairness, "The Knowing" will no doubt rank among the top ten best fictions of the year and in all likelihood, be the winning recipient of the prestigious Giller Prize award for best fiction. Its not hard to recognize the tangible jealousy and resentment reflected in Talaga's writing. It is symptomatic of most indigenous activists who blame their failings on main stream Canadians who for years have generously and financially extended the helping hand of kindness for their wellbeing and social advancement. Perhaps this situation is best reflected by the age old proverb of, "never bite the hand that feeds you."
Very interesting and well written article. Ms. Talaga's Polish history - that side of "knowing," would likely be much more traumatizing than her Indigenous history, if in fact bloodlines carry trauma through the generations. (a recent unproven psychological hypothesis). It's estimated that one-fifth of the population of pre WW2 Poland perished in that conflict, most of them civilians, over 5 and a half million people. The German SS shot thousands of teachers, priests, and other intellectuals in mass killings. Nazi officials sent thousands more to the newly built Auschwitz concentration camp, to Stutthof, and to other concentration camps in Germany where non-Jewish Poles constituted the majority of inmates until March 1942. That was fairly recent. Talaga doesn't even mention this in "The Knowing."