Back on the Rez

Finding the Way Home

De: Brian Maracle

FINALIST FOR THE GORDON MONTADOR AWARD FOR THE BEST BOOK ON SOCIAL ISSUES
A GLOBE AND MAIL EDITOR'S CHOICE

“Highly readable and of extraordinary value.” —The Globe and Mail

A deeply personal journey of Indigenous reclamation, belonging, and the power of language.

More than thirty years after its original publication, Back on the Rez remains a landmark work in Indigenous storytelling and self-reclamation. Brian Maracle—journalist, broadcaster, and Mohawk of the Six Nations of the Grand River—tells the deeply honest story of his return to the community he left decades earlier. Trading his life in downtown Toronto for a home on the reserve, he confronts the divide between urban survival and traditional connection, between English and the revitalizing power of the Mohawk language.

This edition speaks directly to a new generation navigating similar crossroads—between cities and communities, colonial systems and cultural renewal, burnout and belonging. At a time when language preservation, land stewardship, and Indigenous resurgence are urgent national priorities, Maracle’s reflections are more relevant than ever. He writes not as an expert, but as someone walking back into his culture with humility, curiosity, and clarity.

Unflinching and wise, Back on the Rez offers readers a rare glimpse into what it really means to come home—not just geographically, but spiritually and politically. This is a clear-eyed memoir about what it means to belong and a powerful account of returning not just to a place, but to a way of being.

Reseñas de la Crítica

Praise for Back on the Rez:

“Sometimes a writer can prove not only that you can go home again but that you can take readers with you. Brian Maracle has done that with this engaging book about his first year ‘back on the rez,’ in his case the Six Nations reserve on the Grand River near Brantford, Ontario. . . . the genuinely moving story of one man’s slow, layered discovery of a culture he has never personally experienced. . . . highly readable and of extraordinary value . . . this is a book that casts light and interest in an area where heretofore there has been little but darkness and indifference.”
—The Globe and Mail

“An absorbing account of a year in the life of not only what is arguably Canada’s most politically complex community, but also of Maracle’s passionate bid to rediscover and enrich his Mohawk roots.”
—The Toronto Star

“A landmark book . . . one of the most important published in Canada this year. . . . Only a writer like Maracle can tell what it’s like to have been part of the native diaspora, to have your heritage destroyed and to come home again to rebuild it. It’s a moving and positive read.”
—NOW Magazine

“Wonderfully entertaining . . . riveting reading. This is more than a back-to-the-land chronicle: it’s also a touching story of the author’s journey back to his roots. . . . A moving story of homecoming, and of what it feels like to belong.”
—The Financial Post

“A vivid narrative that takes readers from his youth to his meanderings through ‘white’ society as a journalist, to the cathartic return to his boyhood home . . . clear and entertaining.”
—The London Free Press

“A revelation.”
—The Edmonton Journal

“Chalk up the name Brian Maracle as an aboriginal writer whose books you should look for. . . . Back on the Rez, his story of his return to a reserve on which he had not lived for 40 years, is distinguished not only by its relentless honesty but by its engaging humor and elegant prose . . . an excellent read . . . highly informative and always interesting . . . . Beautifully written, almost painfully honest . . . opens a window on a world we know little about.”
—The Gazette