Synopses & Reviews
In Strangers Devour the Land Boyce Richardson provides an intimate look into the people and communities of James Bay, particularly the Cree. It is a moving chronicle of the resistance of people to the dams, the story of James Bay I, and how Hydro-Quebec came to begin the largest single hydroelectric project in North America.
...There are no 'strangers' who devour the land. They are entrenched in the north, in the form of Hydro-Quebec, which put 4,400 square miles of land under water and wreaked ecological havoc in an additional 67,954 square miles.
Can you imagine a man who has lived his whole life in Paris--and one day awakens, looks out his window, and Paris is underwater? It just wouldn't happen.
Review
Richardson delivers a stunning parable of dissimilar societies on a collision course... It must not be ignored.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"Richardson's book is, in a sense, a memorial to the Cree culture.... The cumulative effect of his narrative is powerful."
--The Globe and Mail
Review
"A tour-de-force of sensitive, perceptive, and impassioned reporting.... Read it and rage!"
--Farley Mowat
About the Author
Born in New Zealand in 1928, Boyce Richardson has worked as a journalist and editor in New Zealand, Australia, Britain and Canada. He first became interested in the Cree Indians while he was on the staff of the Montreal Star, and subsequently produced three documentary films about them. He is the author of several books and has contributed articles to many magazines in the United States, Canada and Britain. Richardson now lives in Ottawa.