Raven's Cry

Illustrations by Bill Reid

Published 1966, 1992 (forward)

Raven's Cry is a Northwest Coast classic - a moving and powerful work that is a fictionalized retelling of the near destruction of the Haida nation.

The Haida are a proud and cultured people, whose home is Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands) off the coast of northern British Columbia. Until the first Europeans arrived in 1775, the Haida were the lords of the coast. The meeting of cultures was a fateful one; the Europeans had the advantages of firearms and immunity to their own deadly diseases. In just 150 years, the Haida and their culture were pushed to the edge of extinction.

Christie Harris recreates the tale of tradegy and the ultimate survival of nature spirit with dignity, beauty and ethnographic accruacy.

Christie Harris is the winner of four major book awards and has written a total of nineteen books.

Bill Reid was one of the finest living artists working in the native tradition.