<p>For many Canadians, wilderness is a fairly straightforward idea<br>- an untouched natural place to visit and to protect. Yet, in<br><em>Temagami's Tangled Wild</em>, Jocelyn Thorpe shows in vivid<br>historical detail that "wilderness" is not what it<br>seems.</p><br><br><p> </p><br><br><p>Tracing the processes and power relationships through which the<br>Temagami area of northeastern Ontario became famous as a site of<br>Canadian wilderness, Thorpe uncovers how struggles over meaning,<br>racialized and gendered identities, and land have made Temagami into a<br>place of wild Canadian nature. While the Teme-Augama Anishnabai have<br>for many generations understood the region as their homeland rather<br>than as a wilderness, their relationships with this traditional<br>territory have been disrupted by the mechanisms of forestry, tourism,<br>and Canadian law. In the end, the concept of wilderness has been<br>employed to aid in Aboriginal dispossession and to create a home for<br>non-Aboriginal Canadians on Native land.</p><br><br><p> </p><br><br>An eloquent and sophisticated analysis, <em>Temagami's Tangled<br>Wild</em> challenges readers to acknowledge how colonial relations are<br>embedded in our notions of wilderness, and to reconsider our<br>understanding of the wilderness ideal.<br><p><br><b>Jocelyn Thorpe</b> is an assistant professor of<br>women's studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland.