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As Métis and aboriginal land claims figure in the news of today, it is interesting to study history to get a firmer foundation in the basis of these claims. Sharon Stewart’s Louis Riel: Firebrand is written for young adults but could appeal to a much wider audience. Working from the Métis leader’s letters, poems, court transcriptions, and diaries, Stewart shows Riel as a deeply spiritual man who was determined to protect his people’s rights to land and self-government.

It may never be known whether his hospitalization in various asylums resulted from a religious vision or, as his lawyers at his trial for treason tried to convince the jury, was instead a consequence of insanity. However, the weaving of this question throughout the narrative provides insight into the ongoing torment and persecution Riel must have endured.

Although its fictional augmentation is sometimes fanciful, overall the book is a poignant and factual documentation giving a glimpse of a well-educated man who was drawn into the political and bureaucratic struggles of his time.