Description
Book Synopsis“It was a different crow, but the same crow, you understand? Because there is only one Crow. God made them all black and identical-looking because there is no reason for them to be different birds. That’s why you can never kill a crow, because it lives forever. Crow never dies!” — James Itsi For over 50,000 years, the Great Hunt has shaped human existence, creating a vital spiritual reality where people, animals, and the land share intimate bonds. Author Larry Frolick takes the reader deep into one of the last refuges of hunting societies: Canada’s far north. Based on his experiences travelling with First Nations Elders in remote communities across the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut, this vivid narrative combines accounts of daily life, unpublished archival records, First Nations' stories and Traditional Knowledge with personal observation to illuminate the northern wilderness, its people, and the complex relationships that exist among them. Foreword by Paul Carlucci.
Trade Review"...informative, insightful, thoughtful, thought-provoking, and consistently compelling from beginning to end.... Crow Never Dies is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Canadian Aboriginal Culture reference collections..." -- John Burroughs * Reviewer's Bookwatch *
"The author writes with obvious delight, indeed lyricism, about the people and the environment... To potential readers who have a love for the Arctic, its landscapes, seasons, and peoples, I highly recommend this beautifully composed and lyrical description of the traditions and way of life that struggle to keep their place in the modern world." -- John Andrews * Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research *
"[P]art travelogue, part philosophical inquiry, part participant-observation ethnography—and a wholehearted celebration of the North. Crow Never Dies is laid out in four sections, documenting cultural events and subsistence activities associated with each season.... Every chapter is built around personal conversations with Northern elders, hunters, and story-tellers.... [R]eaders looking for a refreshing and off-the-beaten-path look at Canada’s warming North, will not be disappointed by Crow Never Dies." The Goose, Vol. 15:2 -- Kelly Shepherd * The Goose *
"Larry Frolick sets out to immserse himself in the actual physical place of the North, as opposed to literary and imaginative vesions of it... The resulting volume is part travelogue, part philosophical inquiry, part participant-observation ethnography--and a wholehearted celebration of the North.... Every chapter is built around personal conversations with Northern elders, hunters, and story-tellers." -- Kelly Shepherd * The Goose, Vol. 15, Iss. 2 *
Table of ContentsForeword // Paul Carlucci Preface Introduction WINTER 1 • Perfect Stillness 2 • Hunting Is Trapping 3 • Northern Dogs 4 • The Drunken Forest 5 • Near and Far SPRING 6 • Ice over Water 7 • The Mystery of the Blue Beads BREAKUP 8 • Willow Flats 9 • Knife versus Ulu SUMMER 10 • Berry Picking 11 • King Bear 12 • Powers of the Fantastic FALL 13 • Thinking like a River 14 • Pure Black 15 • Crow Never Dies 16 • Luck and Nothing Afterword Acknowledgements Selected Reading List Index
