CBC Books
May 08, 2023
Check out the great Canadian memoirs, biographies, sports books and more coming out in the first half of 2023 we can’t wait to read.
This anthology explores the hidden history of Kanien’kehá:ka survival and self-defense. The book provides documentation, context and analysis, including writing and artwork by visual artist and polemicist Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall. The Mohawk Warrior Societycontains new oral history of the Rotisken’rhakéhte’s revival in the 1970s and the story of how the Kanien’kehá:ka Longhouse became one the most militant resistance groups in North America.
Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall was a Kanien’kehá:a painter and writer from Kahnawake. He dedicated himself to reviving traditional Mohawk culture after renouncing Christianity and a life of priesthood. His works include The Warrior’s Handbook, which was published in 1979, and Rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy. Both these texts, which served as a political and cultural call to arms for Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, were initially printed by hand and distributed in secret.
The first collection of its kind, this anthology by members of the Mohawk Warrior Society uncovers a hidden history and paints a bold portrait of the spectacular experience of Kanien’kehá:ka survival and self-defense.
Providing extensive documentation, context, and analysis, the book features foundational writings by prolific visual artist and polemicist Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall (1918–1993) — such as his landmark 1979 pamphlet, The Warrior’s Handbook, as well as selections of his pioneering artwork. This book contains new oral history by key figures of the Rotisken’rhakéhte’s revival in the 1970s, and tells the story of the Warriors’ famous flag, their armed occupation of Ganienkeh in 1974, and the role of their constitution, the Great Peace, in guiding their commitment to freedom and independence. We hear directly the story of how the Kanien’kehá:ka Longhouse became one the most militant resistance groups in North America, gaining international attention with the Oka Crisis of 1990. This auto-history of the Rotisken’rhakéhte is complemented by a Mohawk history timeline from colonization to the present, a glossary of Mohawk political philosophy, and a new map of Iroquoia in Mohawk language. At last, the Mohawk Warriors can tell their own story with their own voices, and to serve as an example and inspiration for future generations struggling against the environmental, cultural, and social devastation cast upon the modern world. (From Between the Lines)
Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall was a prolific Kanien’kehá:a painter and writer from Kahnawake, whose work continues to inspire generations of Indigenous people today.
