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History General

Bark Skin And Cedar

by (author) James Raffan

Publisher
HarperCollins
Initial publish date
Mar 2000
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780006386537
    Publish Date
    Mar 2000
    List Price
    $22.99

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Description

Bark, Skin and Cedar is an intelligent and grand exploration of that great Canadian icon-the canoe. From the graceful birch bark vessels of the Micmac Indians to the wide and sturdy Haida dugouts, from the canvas-covered Chestnut Prospector to the sleek dragon racing boats, the fragile but powerful craft defines our history and our culture in a myriad of ways.

James Raffan takes us on a canoe tripping journey: we are transported back in time to the notion of the canoe as a luminal vehicle, bearing the human spirit from one world to another; we are there at the Lachine Rapids, where Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain learned to paddle canoes, so different from their sea-faring vessels; we explore the canoe trip as a reflection of a heroic quest and the craft as a cradle or womb out of which love and new life will grow; and we investigate the canoe as a rich muse for our artists and profitable inspiration for our advertisers. Along the way we meet some of the canoe’s most ardent and colorful paddlers: Governor George Simpson, Frances Ann Hopkins, Edwin Tappan Adney, Eric Morse, Pierre Trudeau, Bill Mason and Kirk Wipper.With its fresh and unique blend of canoe history, legend, insight and imagination presented in an attractive gift book format, Bark, Skin and Cedar will capture a large and enthusiastic reading audience.

About the author

James Raffan is a prolific writer, speaker, and geographer, and the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Circling The Midnight SunEmperor Of The NorthBark, Skin And Cedar; and Fire In The Bones. He has written for a variety of media outlets, including National GeographicCanadian GeographicUp HereExplore and The Globe and Mail, and produced radio and television documentaries for CBC Radio and the Discovery Channel. His work has taken him all over the world. He is an international fellow of the Explorers Club, a past chair of the Arctic Institute of North America, and a fellow and past governor of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, service for which he was awarded many medals, including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. From 2010 to 2013, he traveled through the Arctic Circle, spending time in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, as he researched and wrote on culture and climate change in the North. He lives in Seeley’s Bay, Ontario. Visit him at JamesRaffan.ca or follow him on Twitter @raffjam.

James Raffan's profile page

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