Critical Book Review
            
             INTRODUCTION:
             You Are Asked To Witness is a very well written and laid out piece of collaborative literature. The style is free flowing and it has excellent continuity even though it was written by multiple authors. I like how the book starts with the first contact with Xwelítem and then continues through time to the present day. It goes through Stó:lō life, history, and culture in a very easy to read and straight forward manner. It also examines the consequences of the Xwelítem influence on Stó:lo culture in a non-emotional approach. This made me feel as thought the authors were being honest and sincere in there attempt to help me understand what their history has actually been like, not what I have been told by other individuals. The method in which the events are described is much like an encyclopedia, just telling us the details without any derogatory or condescending comments, in other words, "Just the facts, maim". I like how there are quotes from Aboriginal people. I adds a personal feeling to the work as well as making what the author is talking about a more tangible or real. There is not only quotes from aboriginals but excerpts from letters to superiors from the Europeans in charge. There is even telling of the Xwelítem side of the story, the reasons why the certain Xwelítem did the things they did. For example it talks about the reasons why Colonial Governor James Douglas tried to assimilate the Stó:lo. He felt that assimilation of the Stó:lo would, "Result in the moral elevation of the native Indian races, in rescuing them from degradation, and protecting them for oppression and rapid decay..." (Carlson, 1997, p.67). I also like how in the preface they said, "This volume is only a series of interpretations. It is not the interpretation." (Carlson, 1997, p.iii). This is something that should be put into all history...