George F. MacDonald

For centuries the Haida lived on the Queen Charlotte Islands, a remote archipelago off the Northwest Coast of North America. Art, myth and ceremony were an integral part of their lives, and over time they developed a rich, distinctive and powerful style of sculpture and painting. By the time the first Europeans landed on the shores of their homeland, Haida art had attained a refined and noble sophistication of style to display complex myths of creation and transformation. This superb volume, the definitive book on Haida art, presents the most treasured works in what is considered the world's best collection, at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. It is richly illustrated with 90 full-color photos of artworks (such as masks, pipes, rattles and other ceremonial objects), and 95 black-and-white photographs of artworks and rare historical images that provide glimpses into the past. The descriptive text by George MacDonald, author of the classic Haida Monumental Art, provides an informed overview of Haida art in a historical, cultural and cosmological context.

Describes the sites and gives brief histories of 18 Haida villages. With 75 archival photographs.

This account of the archaeological investigation of Kitwanga Fort in the Skeena River valley of northern British Columbia, illustrates the importance of warfare in the culture of the Indians of the Northwest Coast, specifically the Gitskan and the warrior Nekt.

"The Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia constructed some of the most magnificent houses and erected some of the most beautifully carved totem poles on the Northwest Coast. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, images of the Haida's immense cedar houses and soaring totem poles were captured, first on glass plates and later on film, by photographers who travelled to then-remote villages such as Masset and Skidegate to marvel at, and record, what they saw there." "Haida Monumental Art ... includes a large number of these remarkable photographs, selected from a collection of over 10,000 original prints and photographic plates. They depict the Haida villages at the height of their glory and record their tragic deterioration only a few decades later. ... By combining archaeology and ethnohistory, George MacDonald presents an integrated framework for understanding the physical structure of a Haida village. He explains how the houses and poles are part of a fascinating web of myth, family history, and Haida cosmology, which provides a unique insight into Haida culture."--Back cover.

The Gust Island burial shelter; the Skungo Cave, North Island; mass burials from Tanu, by George F. MacDonald ... and ... The Gust Island burial shelter : physical anthropology, by Jerome S. Cybulski. An examination of the mortuary practices of the Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Astronaut Boston Low was once NASA's best shuttle pilot. Now he's left the politicking of the space program behind, preferring to spend his time thinking, dreaming and feeding seagulls in the mist of San Francisco Bay. That is, until a mile-wide asteroid suddenly appears in orbit around Earth. Scientists know that a collision—and vast destruction—is imminent. They call on Low to return to space and nudge the menacing new moon into stable orbit, out of harm's way. It's a mission that leads to an incredible adventure. When Low, prizewinning journalist Maggie Robbins and scientific genius Ludger Brink investigate the asteroid's surface, they turn a key to an anomaly—and are hurtled into a time and place of revelation, mystery and danger: the planet Cocytus. Once home to an extraordinarily advanced society, Cocytus is now a haunted world of rocky spires, bizarre "museums" and a maze of fantastic, under-ocean tunnels and siphons. For the three human castaways the challenge is to understand the secret of the powerful intelligence woven into the very atmosphere of this mysterious planet. Because on this far side of the universe, solving the mystery of Cocytus and the fate of its inhabitants is the only hope they have of getting home again.