"Before the Country provides an important antithesis to Romantic nationalism and obscure euphemisms that serve no purpose in reconciliation between Aboriginal Canadians and non-Aboriginal Canadians."
Naomi Mcllwraith, American Indian Culture and Research Journal 32.3 (2008)
"Indigenous literature of the 1960s and 1970s is often dismissed as ‘protest literature’; McKenzie, however, believes that it constitutes ‘a literature of praise, resilience, hope, and instruction by example’ and influence beyond its community. McKenzie's theories shed light on an important period of Canadian cultural history by using a study of myth to show Indigenous literature's influence on settler literature.
Although Before the Country is specific to Canadian literature and Indigenous literature from Canada, McKenzie's theories could apply to U.S. and Native American literatures from south of the 49th parallel. Before the Country is an invaluable text for anyone interested in better understanding the Native-settler relationships through literature and myth."
Jo-Ann Episkenew, Queen’s Quarterly 29.3 (2009)
"Before the Country is indispensable to any survey of Canadian national literature or literary study of the period."
Kirby Brown, Studies in American Indian Literatures 21.1 (2009)
"Before the Country should provide the stimulus for discussion among scholars of Canadian Native literature as well as countless others involved with Canadian literature, Native Studies, or Canadian Studies."
Michael Kennedy, Canadian Journal of Native Studies 28.2 (2008)
‘This book opens a window on Canadian literature in the last forty years of the twentieth century, and helps us understand how the Native Literary Renaissance enabled Aboriginal people to talk to one another as well as to the federal government. Stephanie McKenzie engages with critics and historians including Northrop Frye, and makes excellent use of works by Chief Dan George, Leonard Cohen, George Ryga, and Margaret Atwood. Before the Country is a comprehensive work written with passion, intelligence, and respect for Aboriginal culture.’
Maurice Harmon, Emeritus Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama, University College Dublin, and author of The Doll with Two Backs
