Life Lived Like a Story

Life Stories of Three Yukon Native Elders

by Julie Cruikshank

"This is an exemplary work. . . . It is thorough, clear, and wonderfully detailed. What's more, it is co-authoredin a real, rather than a fictive sense, bringing to the reader a kind of authenticity and bite that is rarely available. . . . Certainly specialists will be fascinated with this study, but it is so readable, so interesting, so innovative, that I think it will appeal to a wide audience. . . . [It] should be a cornerstone in Native American studies. And essential reading in women's studies, northern studies, and to anyone curious about alternative ways of seeing the world and living a life. It ultimately stands alone, proof that there is progress in anthropological method and description."--Michael Dorris, author of The Broken Cord. "There is pure gold here for those who want to understand the rules of the old ways. . . . [The book] has a convincing sureness, an intensity which cannot be denied, a strong sense of family. . . . Candidly, and often with sly humour, the three women discuss early white-Indian relations, the Klondik gold rush, the epidemics, the starvation, the healthy and wealthy times, and building of the Alaska Highway. . . . Integrity is here, and wisdom. There is no doubting the authenticity of the voices. As women, they had power and they used it wisely, and through their words and Cruikshank's skills, you will change your mind if you think the anthropological approach to oral history can only be dull."--Barry Broadfoot, Toronto Globe and Mail.

Of Athapaskan and Tlingit ancestry, Angela Sidney, Kitty Smith, and Annie Ned lived in the southern Yukon Territory for nearly a century. They collaborated with Julie Cruikshank, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, to produce this unique kind of autobiography. Cruikshank's books include The Stolen Woman: Female Journeys in Tagish and Tutchone Narrative (1982).

— ©1991