Crosses in the Sky

Praise for Crosses in the Sky

"Crosses in the Sky is dramatic and enthralling . . . Bourrie has done more than any other Canadian historian writing for a general audience to disinter the root causes of degenerating settler-Indigenous relations and disrupted Indigenous societies in the 400 years since Brébeuf’s death. And he has done it with attention-grabbing panache."
—Charlotte Gray, Globe and Mail

"Crosses in the Sky provides a detailed account of the giant-framed missionary who walked among the Hurons . . . This patron saint of Canada has long been given plenty of attention by Jesuits, whether for his missionary spirit or for his extreme suffering. It is good to see his legend now given serious historical treatment."
—Michael Taube, Washington Examiner

"Bourrie's latest, like its Charles Taylor Prize-winning predecessor, Bush Runner, focuses on the clash between European and Indigenous cultures in 17th-century colonial North America. Here, it’s the events leading to the violent ruin of Huronia, traditional home of the Huron-Wendat people, as they were experienced by the French Jesuit missionary and mystic Jean de Brébeuf."
—Emily Donaldson, Globe and Mail

"Bourrie's colloquial writing style and storytelling skill make Crosses in the Sky . . . an interesting and accessible retelling of an important chapter in Canadian history."
—Kate Jaimet, Canada's History

"In 2019, Mark Bourrie published Bush Runner, a biography of the adventurer Pierre-Esprit Radisson that was 'compelling, authoritative, not a little disturbing—and a significant contribution to the history of 17th-century North America,' as I wrote at the time. The same can be said about Bourrie's latest, Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia . . . In reinterpreting the Jesuit's martyrdom against the backdrop of Huronia's destruction, Bourrie presents a revisionist history."
—Ken McGoogan, Toronto Star

"Gripping stuff, grippingly told."
—Literary Review of Canada

"In Crosses, the first secular biography of Brébeuf, Bourrie takes the accepted Sunday school version and 'humanizes' it. Here, the Jesuits aren’t quite so noble, the Hurons are not so pure, and the Iroquois are no longer one-dimensional villains . . . This is a ripping yarn in the classic sense, with plenty of action—epic canoe voyages, battles, and of course, martyrdom—and it marks Bourrie’s second foray into the early history of the French in Canada."
—Ian Coutts, Zoomer

"Bourrie is fast becoming the dean of Canadian literary non-fiction . . . Bourrie also manages to be panoramic in his historical descriptions of Huronia while concurrently focusing on biographical details of Brébeuf’s missionary work. This treatment of the problematic legacy of both the cleric and his religious order is top drawer."
—Winnipeg Free Press

"Crosses in the Sky paints a detailed and nuanced portrait of that destruction, enriching our modern understanding of a time and people who have been stereotyped or simply ignored for too long."
—Ottawa Review of Books

"[A] fascinating and engrossing tale . . . a meticulously researched book . . . It told me, on nearly every page, something I did not know about the history of this province, of the lives lived here in the 17th century."
—Edith Cody-Rice, Millstone News

"Bourrie looks at how such early encounters between French colonists and missionaries and Indigenous Peoples continue to resonate in those same relationships."
—Quill & Quire

Praise for Mark Bourrie

“Bourrie’s book positively sings . . . [Big Men Fear Me] is thoroughly researched and the prose is clean and engaging . . . McCullagh deserves to be known . . . He made The Globe the dominant voice in English Canadian journalism. Bourrie’s biography does him full justice.”
—Globe and Mail

“There are many threads to untangle here and Bourrie—journalist, academic, and lawyer—unpicks them all. Spanning the first half of 20th-century Ontario, [George] McCullagh’s life and times become an engrossing tale of ambition, politics and bipolar illness—it’s like little else we’re likely to read this year . . . It was a tumultuous life, and Bourrie tells it with wit and humour.”
—Nancy Wigston, Toronto Star

“This is a joy of a biography . . . Bourrie, a historian whose last book brought explorer Pierre Radisson to life, has done right by McCullagh, and not just with the marvellous title. Canada doesn’t like tall poppies. It didn’t end well. But what a ride it was.”
—Heather Mallick, Toronto Star

“A remarkable biography of an even more remarkable 17th-century individual … Beautifully written and endlessly thought-provoking.”
—Maclean’s

“Bourrie’s writing is grounded in a strong sense of place, partly because of his own extensive knowledge of the land and partly because of Radisson’s descriptive storytelling abilities . . . a valuable and rare glimpse into 17th-century North America.”
—Canadian Geographic