History Post-confederation (1867-)
Mountie in Mukluks
The Arctic Adventures of Bill White
- Publisher
- Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd.
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2004
- Category
- Post-Confederation (1867-)
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781550173529
- Publish Date
- Oct 2004
- List Price
- $34.95
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Description
But readers of Mountie in Mukluks will soon realize they are in the presence of one of the most un-cop-like cops who ever built an igloo. And by the time they have finished they will never be able to think quite the same way about the fabled Redcoats, or life in the far north.
During the 1930s, Bill White gave up trapping and joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, volunteering for arctic service. Arctic life was so dodgy in those days of the Mad Trapper and The Lost Patrol, the force couldn't send you there against your will, so volunteering was the only way to get there. Bill started out crewing on the historic RCMP patrol ship St. Roch under the command of the legendary Captain Henry Larsen, but hungered for greater adventure and requested a posting ashore upon reaching Cambridge Bay.
Adventure he found: Mountie in Mukluks includes hair-raising accounts of a near-death experience under the ice on a frozen river; of a 1200-mile dog-sled chase after an arctic murderer; and of numerous fascinating encounters with shamans, telepathy and an Inuit way of life that has now vanished from the earth. White's absorbing oral accounts of life in the old north, molded into lively prose by Patrick White, place Mountie in Mukluks among classics of arctic literature like Kabloona by Gontran de Poncins and People of the Deer by Farley Mowat.
Mountie in Mukluks is sure to cause a stir among enthusiasts of police and Arctic lore. As a cop who chose to adopt a Native lifestyle and was honoured with his own Inuit name, Bill White makes a devastating critique of the white settler way of life and its red-coated enforcers who disdained the traditions of the Inuit while simultaneously relying on them for survival.
About the author
Patrick White is the former poet laureate of Ottawa. He has published eight books of poetry and his work has been translated into five languages and appears in hundreds of national and international periodicals and anthologies, including Poetry (Chicago), Dalhousie Review, Texas Quarterly, the Fiddlehead, and Georgia Review. Winner of the Archibald Lampman Award, Canadian Literature Award, Benny Nicholas Award for Creative Writing, he was also a runner-up for the Milton Acorn People’s Poet Award. He is founding editor and publisher of Anthos, a Journal of the Arts, Anthos Books, and producer-host of Radio Anthos, a popular literary radio show.
Excerpt: Mountie in Mukluks: The Arctic Adventures of Bill White (by (author) Patrick White)
Bill White (1905-2001) was born in Bala, Ontario and grew up on a farm near Yellowgrass, Saskatchewan. He trapped in the Lac La Ronge area of northern Saskatchewan before enlisting in the RCMP and requesting Arctic service in 1930. After leaving the force in 1934 he worked in Vancouver's wartime shipyards and became president of the Marine Workers and Boilermakers Union, a post he held for 11 years. He was the subject of one other book, A Hard Man to Beat (1984) by Howard White.
Editorial Reviews
"Obviously, Bill White never had much patience with anyone at any level who didn't give the Inuit their full due and his colourful stories prove it. With language that can be crude, rude, caustic, and coarse - but never truly profane - While declares his thoughts and feelings for the North and 'everything that makes the Arctic hard to live in: cold, wind, ice and lunatics.' Despite his apparent dislike of myths and legends, Bill White has become one himself. His book is first-class Arctic Canadiana that everyone should read."
-M.Wayne Cunningham, Kamloops Daily News
Kamloops Daily News
