Book Review

Islands of Truth is a valuable if flawed account of the colonization of coastal British Columbia, primarily Vancouver Island. Its author, a geographer with a postmodern bent, is interested in the construction of categories that underlay this process. He takes a two-pronged approach, examining with admirable thoroughness the local encounters between indigenous groups and European traders. He is highly attentive to questions of agency and constructed meaning. Nootka chiefs such as Maquinna and Wickaninish are shown to be masters of their historical moment, viewing their relations with traders and explorers more clearly than the latter viewed them. Indeed, the European view was shaped by evolving discourses of savagery and nationalism that frequently hindered both profitable exchange and beneficial alliance building.

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