On this day in 1993, Daniel Paul’s ground-breaking book We Were Not the Savages was launched. Nearly 300 people attend the event.

A review by historian Geoffrey Plank describes the book as “…unique, in chronological scope and the story it tells, covering the last three centuries of Mi’kmaq history in detail. It is also extraordinary in the way it presents a distinctive voice [for] the Mi’kmaq…Prior to the appearance of …this book it was common for historians to downplay or even deny the violence inflicted on the Mi’kmaq…by European and Euro-American colonizers. …it is important to recognize that we have far too few histories written by Native American authors – very few indeed that cover as extensive a time span as this book does.”

We are proud to have featured We Were Not the Savages as last year’s Dal Reads book.

Thanks to the Mi’kmaq Book of Days (CBU) for the information in this post.