The Participants -- Autobiography, Biography and Reminiscence: The Métis

Louis Riel

It has been said that more has been written about Louis Riel than any other Canadian political figure. What follows here is only a selection. George Stanley, in his Louis Riel, perhaps the first full-length critical biography of the Métis leader, portrayed him as an unfortunate, perhaps misguided, victim of John A. Macdonald's expansionist policies. In Riel and the Rebellion Thomas Flanagan argued that Riel ignored chances to avoid conflict and created many of the Métis' troubles. Flanagan's point of view has been challenged by subsequent writers of Métis history.

* Bowsfield, Hartwell. - Louis Riel, the rebel and the hero. - Toronto : Oxford University Press, 1971. - 160 p. - (Canadian lives). - Also published in French under the title: Louis Riel : le patriote rebelle

Flanagan, Thomas. - Riel and the Rebellion : 1885 reconsidered. - Saskatoon, Sask. : Western Producer Prairie Books, 1983. - 177 p.

Martel, Gilles. - Le messianisme de Louis Riel. - Waterloo (Ont.) : Publié pour la Corporation canadienne des sciences religieuses par Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 1984. - 481 p. - (Éditions SR, vol. 4.)

Needler, G.H. - Louis Riel : the Rebellion of 1885. - Toronto : Burns & MacEachern, 1957. - 81 p.

Osler, E.B. - Louis Riel : the man who had to hang. - Toronto : Longmans Green, 1961. - 320 p.

• Needler fought Riel's Métis as a corporal in the Queen's Own Rifles and subsequently became a professor at the University of Toronto. See also his poem memoir, The Battleford column.

* The Queen vs. Louis Riel, accused and convicted for the crime of high treason. - Ottawa : Queen's Printer, 1886. - 207 p. - Reproduced in microform format: CIHM microfiche series, no. 30472. - Also published in French under the title: La Reine vs. Riel, accusé et convaincu du crime de haute trahison : rapport

• Transcript of testimony at Riel's trial and appeal.

Riel, Louis. - The collected writings of Louis Riel = Les écrits complets de Louis Riel. - George F.G. Stanley, general editor. - Edmonton : University of Alberta Press, 1985. - 5 vol.

• A massive project sponsored by the Canadian government.

Siggins, Maggie. - Riel : a life of revolution. - Toronto : HarperCollins, 1994. - 507 p.

Stanley, George F.G. - Louis Riel. - Toronto : Ryerson Press, 1963. - 433 p.

* Thomas, Lewis H. - "Riel, Louis". - Dictionary of Canadian biography. - Volume XI: 1881 to 1890. - Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1982. - P. 737-752. - Also published in French under the title: Dictionnaire biographique du Canada.

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