This Place

"This Place" delivers spectacularly with its diverse collection of gorgeously illustrated stories, Although as an American my grasp of Canadian history is exactly as weak as one would expect, I still enthusiastically devoured the anthology. The stories of the indigenous peoples of the Americas overall are still stories that one doesn't get to hear all too often, so I find any opportunity to hear and read this often-ignored perspective is a welcome one irregardless of any official borders. When it comes out, "This Place" will have a spot eagerly waiting for it in my library's graphic novel collection.

In all the hoopla about Canada's sesquicentennial, where were the indigenous peoples? Where was their celebration? Was there even a celebration, since as this book points out, in story after story, Canada has done everything in its power to make sure the native peoples are corralled, stripped of their tradition, their language, their land, every change they got.

Each contributor to this volume draws on stories of the Metis, Inuit, and First Nations, that happened in the last 150 years. And Chelsea Vowel, looks back on things that have happened, from the future, when the land has been restored.

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This is an amazing book, packed with stories based on fact, of times that Metis, First Nations and Inupiat have fought back. Of the residential schools, to the 60s scoop, to land and water rights protests.

Highly recommended to schools, libraries and individuals.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

The artwork is simply stunning, spanning a wide variety of styles from a large number of artists. I’m impressed by the scope of the project - tackling such a long and varied history is an impressive feat. It’s a great history book to be sure, especially due to its unique storytelling format.

This is an incredible volume. The collection of stories, from a fantastic collection of writers and artists is a masterpiece. The weaving together of storytelling, art, history and opinion is just wonderful.

As an educator, I would gladly add this to my humanities courses. Perhaps we'd study the whole thing, perhaps we'd use it as a way to look at various aspects of Indigenous history in Canada. It's unflinching and honest in its look at the history of our nation.

In the spirit of truth and reconciliation, there is a thread of hope that runs through this collection. It reflects past, present and future.

Oh my god ya'll, I had better see this on absolutely everybody's TBR.
This is amazing, this is important, and this is wonderfully encapturing. From the many different art styles, I got to experience, to the rich story-telling from different authors, reading this was an experience I've never encountered before.
This book is so important, to have been written and to be read in turn. We are coming to see a lot more diversity in fiction, such as a lot more books written by authors of colour about main characters of colour, with many a supporting cast featuring POC, however the minority group I see the least would have to be indigenous people. This is extremely unfortunate, as genocide and colonialism have made generations of Indigenous peoples voices unheard, and we can still see the effects of this today, as we can with any other minority group in society, but especially Indigenous communities and their lack of content written about them. This book specifically delves into this, and as a result, most of the stories told are relatively sad but are telling the stories of important Indigenous figures which stories have been silenced by forced assimilation for so long.
I've decided to highlight some of my favourite stories that I read.
Red Clouds by Jen Storm.
This story was tragic, beautifully told by some amazing and haunting artwork. As is unfortunately common in stories told about Indigenous people, the story revolves a woman who is tragically killed. However, I liked the question throughout the novel revolving around the difference between the Queen's laws and the laws the Indigenous people follow and govern by themselves, should white man's law be used to judge an act that happens within Indigenous land and jurisdiction? It was a concept I enjoyed thinking about extensively.
Peggy by David Robertson.
This one made me cry like you wouldn't believe. This story explores Indigenous men being summoned to war despite not actually being allowed to have any decent human rights. It also centers around one of the greatest snipers during the war. Our main character is brave and inspirational, we get to see him influence his fellow soldiers in his ways when the beliefs and traditions of Indigenous people were being threatened by bigotry and fear. This story explores a man who risked his life to serve, and serve well, get rewarded and recognized with metals, and still struggles to be granted simple things as an Indigenous person.
Nimkii by Kateri Aikwenzie-Damm.
This story is the saddest one by far, I bawled my eyes out reading this. This story follows a woman telling her daughter her story of being ripped from her loving mother at a young age and forced into a residential school, then to be circled around from home to home in the adoptive system. The numbers of Indigenous children in foster care compared to white children is shocking and was a bitter reality for a lot of children after surviving residential school. If you thought a residential school was the worst to happen to Indigenous people, this book may be a rude awakening.

I don't know a huge amount about Canadian history or the struggles of indigenous people. This graphic novel is an Interesting and thought-provoking read, which fills in some of the holes.

Each story is introduced by a foreword from the author, and a timeline of events surrounding the narrative; these where both fascinating and added to my appreciation of each story. Beautifully drawn, with a different style being used for each story, This Place is a book that all teenagers should read.

This was a mixed bag. I thought the focus on Canadian indigenous peoples was super cool, and I learned a bunch of new pieces of history and culture. The stories themselves ranged from 2s to 4s in my mind but I appreciate how the different authors and artists obviously put so much thought and heart into the work. I’d give this a try if you’re into both graphic novels and history- I’d be very surprised if you didn’t learn something new!

Wow!!

Each and every story was extremely beautiful. I loved the art, the colors (where it existed) and the dialogue.

I will definitely be adding this to my shelf upon release.

This is the first time I've ever read a graphic novel that is a collection of stories rather than one single tale and it was certainly a rather interesting experience. <i>This Place; 150 Years Retold</i> is a collection of short stories in a graphic format which tell the tales of real people from the past of Canada whose stories have been told by people who do not even share their race or stories that simply may not have been told at all. Indigenous authors Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Chelsea Vowel, Katherena Vermette, Jen Storm, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, David Alexander Robertson, Richard Van Camp, and Brandon Mitchell have come together to provide the world with accounts of indigenous people who helped Canada become what it is today and, sometimes, of their own ancestors and the hardships that they all went through.  It is a collection that portrays history from eyes that, for once, do not belong to the conquerors who invaded and changed their world as we so often see in today's society.

Admittedly, history is not always my favorite subject to read about, but many of these stories were thoroughly engaging and interesting. I definitely feel that I prefer them, to an extent, in graphic format as it allowed me the opportunity to enmesh myself with the story in an entirely new way. The inclusion of various authors within one graphic novel was a little rough at times as the artistic style would consistently change from story to story and some were far better than others. This made the transition from story to story somewhat staggered rather than smooth and I think perhaps a reordering of which stories come after each other might benefit the book greatly.

As for the stories themselves, they were all well done and enjoyable to read. I'm certainly very glad that these authors had the opportunity to put these tales out into the world and I hope that they are read by many. Some, particularly the one about the war hero returned home to nothing, were truly poignant and devastating to read. Ultimately, I had a good time reading this graphic novel and would certainly recommend it.

<i>I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This Place: 150 Years Retold is part of a larger Canadian project called the New Chapter Initiative. The goal is to retell history through the eyes of Indigenous people. You know the saying; history is decided by those that won? Well, this is sort of a twist on that. This is history from the perspective of people who normally don’t have the opportunity to share their side of things.
This is an absolutely brilliant collection. It was eye opening and beautifully done. I’m ashamed to say that I had never considered a project like this before, but I am so happy that one exists. I hope to see more like this in the future.
I cannot state the important of this graphic novel enough. We all can afford to work on understanding other people’s perspectives, and this couldn’t be truer here. This collection really was enlightening.
Along with being important, the stories being told are rich and beautiful. Normally I’d use this time to point out my favorite story or two in a collection. But honestly? I don’t think I could pick a favorite here if I tried. They were all lovely, and as I said before, extremely important.
I hope that the New Chapter Initiative continues moving forward and coming out with collections like this. I also hope to see more people reading them that would be absolutely amazing.

This Place is an incredible collection of stories that focus on the experiences , history, and ongoing survival of indigenous people in Canada. HighWater Press has provided an amazing platform for sharing indigenous peoples' voices, and I continue to be impressed by the graphic novels that they publish. There a lot of diversity in art and storytelling within this anthology, which I think works both for and against the book. Unlike Surviving the City, there isn't a single story to follow and it is more specific to different moments in Canadian history that I was unfamiliar with - although it certainty touches on the same themes of colonialism, environmental destruction, and forced assimilation that define the experiences of indigenous tribes in the US. There is certainly more breadth in this collection, and it is broken up by personalized reflections and introductions to the different stories, which helped to clarify what was happening. I definitely recommend this graphic novel as a learning and educational tool on indigenous lives in Canada - I only wish US publishing would catch up! P.S. - lots of interactive tools are already being added to the website if you want to learn more about any of the historical moments mentioned throughout the graphic novel.

Poignant and powerful, This Place is a collection of the stories and history of the First Nations people. The storytelling is phenomenal and the illustrations breathtaking, and both highlight the injustices and horrors that the First Nations people have endured. But these are also stories of hope and strength, the stories of those who choose to fight for their land, their people, their culture, and for their descendants. The authors and illustrators assembled this collection both to honor their ancestors and to educate their descendants. But for the non-Indigenous, read this book and come away with new knowledge of history, and learn things that you never would have been taught otherwise.

The startling, stark and often brutal story of indigenous people in Canada told in This Place was eye opening as an American white woman. Though I knew of the mistreatment of indigenous peoples in theory, the authors’ combination of facts/timelines with the graphic adaptations was very moving. Though I don’t have a place for it in my English Language Arts curriculum, I will surely be recommending it to our Social Studies teacher, as 7th grade learns some Canadian history/geography in their World Georgraphy curriculum. I would love to have access to a United States version as well. Such a powerful book.

A powerful look at Canadian history from an Indigenous perspective.

** Trigger warning for racist violence against Indigenous peoples, including colonialism, kidnapping, forced assimilation, and land theft. **

Though the body of post-apocalyptic Indigenous literature is much smaller than I’d like (MOON OF THE CRUSTED SNOW by Waubgeshig Rice and the 2016 scifi anthology LOVE BEYOND BODY, SPACE, AND TIME are the only two that spring immediately to mind), in my own experience, one observation seems to cut across them all: that, for Native Americans and Indigenous peoples, the apocalypse has already happened – is happening – in the form of colonialism. For them, “post-apocalyptic” is not sub-genre of science fiction, or an escape from the banality of everyday life, or even a warning of what could happen, if we continue down our current path. Rather, “post-apocalyptic” describes their current reality, their lives, their struggles, their continued resistance. No matter how many times I encounter it, it’s a statement that always bowls me over.

While THIS PLACE: 150 YEARS RETOLD is not really a science fiction anthology (“kitaskînaw 2350” by Chelsea Vowel notwithstanding), it’s hard not to view the comics in this collection from an apocalyptic lens.

The ten comics featured in THIS PLACE explore various historical figures and events in Canadian history from an Indigenous perspective: from Sniper Francis “Peggy” Pegahmagabow, who served in WWI, killed 378 enemy soldiers and captured 300 more, and went on to become the most decorated Indigenous soldier in Canadian history…only to be repeatedly denied loans after the war (“Peggy” by David A. Robertson and Natasha Donovan), to a fictionalized account of a mother’s stand against CA’s kidnapping of Indigenous children, spurred in part by the young boy she failed to save when she was in foster care herself (“Nimkii” by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Ryan Howe, Jen Storm, and Donovan Yaciuk).

While both the artwork and storytelling is a little uneven (par for the course in anthologies), for the most part I found this a pretty solid collection of historical graphic stories. The result is fierce, cutting, and sorely needed. I hope this lands in high school syllabuses on both sides of the border.

(tbh, a grounding in Canadian history is a plus, but by no means necessary.)

I recently had the great honor of reading THIS PLACE: 150 YEARS RETOLD by Kateri Akiwenzi-Damm, Sonny Assu, and Brandon Mitchell. The graphic novel anthology is a collection of ten different stories spanning from 1867 to present day told by Indigenous authors/illustrators.

What makes this collection unique is its stories tell the history of when Europeans settled in North American (specifically Canada) through the perspective of Indigenous people based on a combination of first-hand knowledge, stories handed down, and research.

The anthology is powerful and informative. At the beginning of each story, a historical timeline grounds the reader in the related historical events, making the stories easily meshed with what we already think we know about the time period. The graphic novel format makes these stories accessible and the added dimension of the illustrations act as a portal, transporting the reader directly into the stories. As Richard Van Camp, one of the anthology’s authors, described it here, it’s like “holding a movie in your hands…”

All the stories in the collection deeply affected me by drawing on strong emotions and opening up my understanding of the horrors and injustices inflicted upon Indigenous people during colonization through today’s continued struggles. One of the stories that really stuck to me is Peggy by Cree author David A. Robertson. It’s a biography of Francis “Peggy” Pegahmagabow, a First Nations soldier highly decorated for bravery in Canadian military history and the most effective sniper of World War I. It was interesting that Peggy’s Native “superstitions” and “magic” were scorned by the military, but during significant military action he was asked to control the weather. Despite the great respect he was shown for his bravery and skills during the war, Peggy struggled to settle in to home life afterward. He was denied loans to start a farm. He was badmouthed by an Indian agent who tried to turn his people against him. And he suffered from terrors induced by actions he’d experienced during the war.

Because it’s packed with a wealth of information and a thorough list of biographical references, the graphic novel is also a wonderful reference tool for those who want to research more. The graphic novel is an introduction to many Indigenous authors and I look forward to reading more of their work. THIS PLACE 150 YEARS RETOLD is available at bookstores and for request at your local library. If it isn’t stocked at your bookstore or your library, please request it. It’s an important addition for all high school and library collections. The stories in this collection are appropriate for ages 15+.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me a review copy.

Here’s a short video from David Robertson, creator of “Peggy” about his story in the anthology.

This one took me... a long time to get through! I liked to take time to process between stories, so it wound up taking me longer than I expected to. I swear I mean to review it earlier but I decided to take my time with it instead. Anyway, here we are.

This is a beautiful collection, it really is. I'm kind of choosy about graphic novels a lot of the time, and it was great to see a bunch of different art styles together! I think I especially liked the art style of Rosie? It was a little more abstracted than some of the art styles, but it suited the story being told really well, and it was also really pretty!

In terms of themes, obviously there's quite a bit of darkness because... well... Canada has a lot of dark stuff in it's history with respect to the treatment of Indigenous peoples. I'm still learning all of it. I wasn't in high school that long ago, but it was slightly before the Truth and Reconciliation commission's findings were made public, and my history classes honestly touched far more on the World Wars than on anything that happened at any other time. (Um. My history teacher was really, really into the World Wars. I assume other things have happened in history but he wasn't interested in them.)

While I know the broad stokes from a combination of research on my own and osmosis, the timelines provided with each story really helped me understand the context of the stories themselves. So both in terms of perspective and in terms of actual learning more about the actual events. So I really appreciated having a chance to improve my understanding. They're also just really well done in terms of art and storytelling! So, valuable for a lot of reasons.

I definitely recommend picking this one up! Especially if you're interested in Canadian or Indigenous history (and present, since these stories not only cover up to the modern day but also because the ramifications of how Indigenous people have been treated in the past are very much still being felt), but it's also a good read for anyone, in my opinion. As a heads up, there is some kind of heavy material, but if it's something you're comfortable picking up, it's definitely worth it.

This Place is fantastic! This anthology of 10 powerful stories told by different Indigenous authors shows a range of talent and different art styles. Not all of the art appeals to me, but the writing is all very strong and it is fascinating to learn some lesser-known stories that, well, really shouldn't be so obscure.

I'd love to see copies of this in classrooms across Canada. The graphic nature of this book makes the material highly approachable and easy to absorb. I love that that each story is accompanied by a few facts and dates to help orient the reader as to where and when the story takes place.

Overall I highly recommend this collection!

4.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Portage & Main Press for providing me with a DRC of this book.

The graphic novel, This Place: 150 Years Retold, showcases the voices of eleven Indigenous writers as well as several Indigenous artists. It is a powerful telling of 150 years of Canadian history from the perspective of different First Nations members, Inuit, and Metis, voices rarely heard in our history which is told mostly from the perspective of European settlers.

As in any anthology, the art is somewhat uneven and varies from black and white to full eye-catching colour. Overall, though, it is gorgeous and complements the stories which are uniformly well-written and shine a light on important parts of Canadian history since Confederation that few of us have learned, certainly not in school - stories about the horrors of the Residential schools, the kidnapping of their children in the '60s scoop, and the theft of land, culture, and language. Although the stories are (mostly) fictional told in the form of time travel or dystopian tales, there are references to real historical figures like Metis businesswoman Annie Bannatyne (who I had never heard of) and Louie Riel and real historical events like the Red River Rebellion, the Oka crisis, as well as one story about a young Cree boy from the future sent back to witness the effects of climate change.

This Place is a beautiful, heartbreaking, and important book. For those who think graphic novels are for children, yes, this one definitely is and for teens, adults, classrooms, and libraries as well. It gives a side of the story that has too long been hidden but needs to be told and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Portage & Main Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

There's a wide assortment of stories here, both thematically and stylistically. We have a lot of history and a few folk tales. Some have pointed messages, others are a bit more veiled. Because of the number of artists involved, we also see a wide variety of illustration styles. Basically, because there's a little bit of everything, every reader is likely to find something that resonates.

A graphic novel that presents 10 stories of the last 150 years of Canadian Indigenous history. Stories that you will not have been told in the history books in school. This Place is written by 11 Indigenous writers, 8 illustrators, and 2 artists. The stories begin in 1850 and progresses to the 20 century focusing on the struggles, the strength, supernatural beings and beliefs. Topics touch on strength of a Métis woman, injustice of the Potlatch laws, climate change, expropriation of land, and the trauma felt from the residential schools.
The artwork changes from bright vivid images to, ruddy brown muted colours, and black and white images. Each colour and style depicts the mood of the stories such as the brown muted tones. Although, the theme and feeling expressed by the brown is evident it was not as appealing to the eye.
Overall, this graphic novel will be eye opening to those that have heard only 1 side of Indigenous history.
Worth taking the time to read. #netgalley
#thisplace #goodreads

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this marvelous book in exchange for my review.

This is a brilliant collection of stories told by the people who didn't win. History usually is stories of those who won but not by all those affected. This collection of short graphic stories attempts to rectify that. Each story is a moment in history told through the eyes of an indigenous person. They are all graphically and thematically different, but each of the stories is extremely important. I couldn't pick a favorite, each one excelled and was beautiful. I recommend this group of stories.