Crosses in the Sky - by Mark Bourrie (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A Globe 100 Best Book of 2024

From the bestselling author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre Esprit-Radisson

This is the story of the collision of two worlds. In the early 1600s, the Jesuits-the Catholic Church's most ferocious warriors for Christ--tried to create their own nation on the Great Lakes and turn the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy into a model Jesuit state. At the centre of their campaign was missionary Jean de Bréeacute;beuf, a mystic who sought to die a martyr's death. He lived among a proud people who valued kindness and rights for all, especially women. In the end, Huronia was destroyed. Brébeuf became a Catholic saint, and the Jesuit's "martyrdom" became one of the founding myths of Canada.

In this first secular biography of Brébeuf, historian Mark Bourrie, bestselling author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson, recounts the missionary's fascinating life and tells the tragic story of the remarkable people he lived among. Drawing on the letters and documents of the time--including Brébeuf's accounts of his bizarre spirituality--and modern studies of the Jesuits, Bourrie shows how Huron leaders tried to navigate this new world and the people struggled to cope as their nation came apart. Riveting, clearly told, and deeply researched, Crosses in the Sky is an essential addition to--and expansion of--Canadian history.

Review Quotes

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 Bréeacute;beuf'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

"Canada's greatest historian has done it for a third time, stripping the carcass of Canadian history and leaving readers horrified, riveted, in shock . . . A triumph."
--Heather Mallick, 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

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About the Author

Mark Bourrie is an Ottawa-based author, lawyer, and journalist. He holds a master's in journalism from Carleton University and a PhD in history from the University of Ottawa. In 2017, he was awarded a Juris Doctor degree and was called to the bar in 2018. He has won numerous awards for his journalism, including a National Magazine Award, and received the RBC Charles Taylor Prize in 2020 for his book Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson. His most recent book, Big Men Fear Me: The Fast Life and Quick Death of Canada's Most Powerful Media Mogul, was nominated for several book awards.