The Nature of Southeast Alaska, by Rita M. O’Clair, Robert H. Armstrong and Richard Carstensen

appearance of white trappers and the devastating impact they had on fur-bearing animals and wildlife. A third one is that disease continued to ravage Indian populations in the early 20th century e.g., the flu epidemic of the 1920s may have reduced the Indian population in the Mackenzie Basin by one-third. The authors describe the second half of the 20th century as “turbulent.” The conflict between resource developers and the original inhabitants of the provincial norths comes to the for in the post-World War II era, completing colonization of the provincial norths. Provincial development strategy rested on four economic elements, namely, mining, forestry, hydroelectricity and public expenditures. For the developers, resource development often resulted in great personal wealth and the creation of mine and mill towns; and for the aboriginal inhabitants, the exchange of a hunting way of life for settlement life resulted in a form of dependency called welfare colonialism. Geographically speaking, there are now two norths one is found in the resource towns and government centres and the other exists on Indian reserves and Metis settlements. This spatial dualism is rooted in the process of corelperiphery development where the hinterland is both developed and underdeveloped. Those involved in the resource economy represent the developed component, while the original inhabitants are disposed of their lands and, in the process, marginalized. In the final chapter, the authors revisit the issue of northern development. As they see it, the neo-classical development model has done little for the North, particularly its Native inhabitants. The authors maintain that the problem results from too few economic benefits remaining in the North. While their new model is rather vague, they seem to be suggesting a “bottom-up” approach, where local Indian entrepreneurs or bands would own and operate northern firms. As an example, they cite Air Creebec, an airline operated by the James Bay Cree. This approach ensures local control over development. The question is, however, would the Air Creebec management board make different economic decisions from those controlled by outside interests? Make no mistake, this book is a good beginning. The authors, by presenting an historical overview of the provincial norths, have drawn our attention to another north. In so doing, they have had to skim over critical issues and leave out others. These “forgotten” matters could be the focus of further research. To go beyond n e Forgotten North, Professors Coates and Momson (and their students) face the challenging and time-consuming task of sorting through provincial archives, conducting interviews and gathering oral histories. Such detailed historic information could result in a fuller, more complete history of each provincial north. In their new positions as administrators at the University of Northern British Columbia, they may find themselves in a unique position to start with the history of northern British Columbia.