Marginal Man

The story of Jemmy Jock Bird, the son of a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and a Cree woman, is a little-known, yet fascinating, part of the mythology of the northern fur trade. Caught between opposing sides of a dual heritage, Bird situated himself firmly in both worlds. Hired as an undercover 'confidential servant', he crossed into US territory to bring furs taken by Cree and Peigan hunters to his British employers. Later, he served both nations, and his tribal friends, in the negotiation of the 1855 Blackfoot peace treaty and the 1877 Canadian Treaty 7. In this creative non-fiction account, Jackson reconstructs the life of this intriguing individual, using materials from the Hudson's Bay Archives, the Montana Historical Society, and Bird's descendants living on the American Blackfoot Reservation in Browning, Montana.

This book is an extraordinary work of scholarship in its own right, as well as an essential companion to the work of its subject, one of Canada's most important minds.

Udhaya is a virile hedonist, an angsty writer, a discriminating connoisseur, a reverent francophile and an abrasive critic, Time-tested, seasoned and experienced, he transports the reader to the rustic streets of Thanjavur, the buzzing locality of Mylapore, the boondocks of Delhi, the most engaging historical whereabouts of France, Thailand and Morocco, and (quite often) his beloved's bedroom with uncensored personal anecdotes. unabashedly raw, undeniably true to life and pluckily critical, Marginal Man anatomizes the personalities and the sexual nature of its vast and curious cast and the eidos of multiple societies with a fine scalpel.

The first full-scale sociological survey of the assimilation of minorities in America, this classic work presents significant conclusions about the problems of prejudice and discrimination in America and offers positive suggestions for the achievement of a healthy balance among societal, subgroup, and individual needs.