Winter Brothers: A Season at the Edge of America

Ivan Doig is a poet who writes lovely stories and autobiographical tales of old Montana. He is right up there with Wallace Stegner, but his prose and stories are more resonant. Washington Post said a few years ago that Ivan Doig is one of the 'finest writers' in America. I agree. Had the pleasure of spending a couple of days with Ivan and his wife, Carol, at a Stanford Old West seminar in 2000. What a terrific and humble guy. I recommend you read one of Doig's TRILOGY first. They are semi-biographical about his family settling from Scotland into the Two Medicine high country of Montana last century. "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" is #1, followed by "English Creek", my favorite. Fabulous writing, period. Assuming you read and like "Winter Brothers", you will love Doig's others novels and autbiographical books. He is a treasure to the art of writing. Peter B. Liebowitz

Ivan Doig found gold when he came across the unpublished diaries of James Gilchrist Swan in the Manuscripts Section of the University of Washington library. Swan was a pioneer on the Olympic Peninsular, living mainly among the Indians at Neah Bay and Cape Flattery, the western-most edge of the contiguous United States. Doig spent one full winter season, 90 days, living on the Peninsular, during which he kept a daily journal of his own, almost all of it incorporating an examination of Swan's 1862-1898 diaries. It's a fascinating book. Doig, a prodigious writer himself, is ever in awe of the sheer massiveness of Swan's diary. Spread across dozens of pocket-sized (for the most part) diaries, comprising two-and-a-half million words, and spanning four decades, Swan's magnum opus recorded daily life, from the mundane ("swept out the schoolhouse again") to the (for him) magnificent (the Smithsonian finally gets around to publishing his manuscript on the Makah Indians). "The diaries dazzle and dazzle me" [Doig writes] "first simply by their total and variety." Again and again he reminds us of Swan's quantitative achievement, describing in loving detain the physicality of the diaries: their varying sizes, the neat handwriting, the care he took in recording weather information. He also quotes freely from them, in random clips, interesting encounters with people on the Peninsular: Indians come to him seeking advice, friends share drinks with him in a saloon, fishing and hunting trip companions shoot the breeze with him about the latest gossip. The diary seems a perfect marriage of the simple data of day-to-day life and Swan's loftier reflections on what they all might mean. Doig has obviously gained much from his 90 days spent with Swan and his extensive diary, and he makes us eager and willing companions in this exploration. It's my favorite of Doig's books. Highly recommended.

I've enjoyed this delightful book more than once. Doig writes a travel narrative as he retraces the life and journeys of a fellow named Swan who left detailed daily diaries of life on Washington's Olympic Peninsula during the 1850s. This book provides an insightful look at the Pacific Northwest and the early interaction between settlers and the native Northwest Coast Makah tribes at Neah Bay and Cape Alava. This book is a must-read, just like Doig's "The Sea Runners" and Annie Dillard's "The Living," if you are to understand the Pacific Northwest of the past or present. Doig (via Swan's experiences living on the reservation as an English teacher to Makah children) discusses Haida native art and mythology as well as whale-hunting and potlatches. Just an awesome and insightful read, especially for a cold winter evening by the fire. Makes me want to pull out my copy and read it again, and again, and again.