Shoot!

by George Bowering

Overview

Fiction. Across Canada's wild west of the 1800s, brothers Allan, Charlie, Archie and sidekick Alex Hare were known as the McLean gang. They were also known as "breeds"—outcasts caught between the cultures—Alex Hare, a Metis, and Allan, Charlie and Archie, brothers of mixed Salish and Scottish blood. They roamed the high Chilcotin ranch country of British Columbia in the 1870s, cattle rustling, stealing and creating high-spirited mayhem. Until one frozen, crystalline morning in 1879, when they crossed the line and shot two men in cold blood, one of them, Johnny Ussher, the local sheriff. Tracked down by a posse of over 100 men, the McLean Gang were eventually trapped and besieged.

"With powerful imagery and crisp narration, Bowering delivers a stinging commentary on the desperation of racism in the harsh environment of the Canadian West."—Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554200412
Publisher:	New Star Books
Publication date:	10/01/2008
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

George Bowering taught English at Simon Fraser University from 1972 until his retirement in 2001. Canada's first Poet Laureate, he is an Officer of both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia. He was one of the founders of the poetry publication Tish, served as and has received two Governor General's awards: the first, for poetry, in 1969 for The Gangs of Kosmos and Rocky Mountain Foot and the second, in 1980, for Burning Water, reissued by New Star in 2007. Bowering is well-known for his love of baseball, about which he has also written. He is the author of nine novels, five books of short stories, and numerous volumes of poetry, including Autobiology (New Star Books, 1972). Bowering has said he writes about history because it is "so damned interesting." In September, he trekked to New York to watch the Yankees play their final series at Yankee Stadium.

Editorial Reviews

Cowboys and Indians, outlaws and lawmen, roamed Canada's Old West as well as that of the U.S. Here, Bowering, twice winner of the Canadian Governor General's Award, returns (after Caprice, 1987) to that rugged North with a tale of crime and punishment in the British Columbia of yore. The McLean Gang terrorized Canada's western province in 1879, stealing cattle, horses, guns and whiskey. Half-breeds, the McLean brothers grew up bitter, antisocial outcasts, rejected by both the white and Indian worlds. In Bowering's fictional re-creation of these hard cases' lives, the brothers, fueled by mind-numbing reservation hooch and boasts of retribution, ride out on a wild spree of robbery, rustling and murder. Led by the oldest brother, Allan, the McLeans are a sad gang of misfits eager to become famous outlaws-but without fully understanding why, or the price they will pay for their brief fame. Allan is brooding and dreams of leading an Indian uprising to drive the whites from Native lands. Archie, Alex and Charlie are teenaged gunmen who think only of whiskey, guns and the excitement of outlaw life. Quickly tiring of the McLeans' dangerous game, however, lawmen, bounty hunters and irate ranchers break out their Winchesters and hanging ropes to put an end to the problem. With powerful imagery and crisp narration, Bowers delivers a stinging commentary on the desperation of racism in the harsh environment of the Canadian West. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly