We were not the savages: A Mi’kmaq perspective on the collision between European and Native American Civilizations

I picked this book because it was the first to open my eyes to a whole other history that I never took in school. Daniel Paul is a masterful writer who shares meticulously researched and poignant accounts of unfathomably cruel persecutions of Indigenous peoples, historic and current systemic racism, and Indigenous peoples’ valiant attempts to resist and to survive to the present time. Everyone needs to know this history. I am grateful that I found this book by happenstance because MacEwan library had it on its “New Books” shelf in the early 2000s —the place I went to browse for books that I didn’t know I wanted to read. Perhaps featuring Paul’s book anew will reach other such readers.