| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 37.3

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| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 37.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Crow Is My Boss: Taatsaa' Shaa K' exalthet, The Oral History of a Tanacross Athabascan Elder. By Kenny Thomas Sr., Edited by Craig Mishler. (University of Oklahoma Press, 2005. ix + 267 pp. Illustrations, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. $32.95.)

The oral life history of Athabascan elder, Kenny Thomas Sr., was a result of many hours of interviews conducted over a number of years by the book's editor, Craig Mishler. Mishler's presence as interviewer and editor is a significant part of this book. Crow Is My Boss does not consist of literal transcripts of interviews; Mishler's questions and comments are included in the text. Mishler admits to editing and organizing transcripts in order "to create patterns of extended thought, and to make his [Thomas's] arguments more persuasive" (p. 13). Acknowledging the effect of this approach on the work, Mishler refers to this process of documenting oral history as "interactive dialogues" (p. 12). Some readers may find Mishler's approach to Mr. Thomas's narrative a distraction and irrelevant to the Athabascan elder's biography. Mishler defends his approach explaining that the "conversation between the interviewer and the storyteller is part of the context, part of the setting that frames and reframes the narratives" (p. 13).

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