Life in the City of Dirty Water
A Memoir of Healing
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
*FINALIST FOR 2022 CANADA READS*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 J.W. DAFOE BOOK PRIZE*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 MANITOBA BOOK AWARDS’ MCNALLY ROBINSON BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD*
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A gritty and inspiring memoir from renowned Cree environmental activist Clayton Thomas-Muller, who escaped the world of drugs and gang life to take up the warrior’s fight against the assault on Indigenous peoples’ lands—and eventually the warrior’s spirituality.
There have been many Clayton Thomas-Mullers: The child who played with toy planes as an escape from domestic and sexual abuse, enduring the intergenerational trauma of Canada's residential school system; the angry youngster who defended himself with fists and sharp wit against racism and violence, at school and on the streets of Winnipeg and small-town British Columbia; the tough teenager who, at 17, managed a drug house run by members of his family, and slipped in and out of juvie, operating in a world of violence and pain.
But behind them all, there was another Clayton: the one who remained immersed in Cree spirituality, and who embraced the rituals and ways of thinking vital to his heritage; the one who reconnected with the land during summer visits to his great-grandparents' trapline in his home territory of Pukatawagan in northern Manitoba.
And it's this version of Clayton that ultimately triumphed, finding healing by directly facing the trauma that he shares with Indigenous peoples around the world. Now a leading organizer and activist on the frontlines of environmental resistance, Clayton brings his warrior spirit to the fight against the ongoing assault on Indigenous peoples' lands by Big Oil.
Tying together personal stories of survival that bring the realities of the First Nations of this land into sharp focus, and lessons learned from a career as a frontline activist committed to addressing environmental injustice at a global scale, Thomas-Muller offers a narrative and vision of healing and responsibility.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Clayton Thomas-Müller’s raw, inspiring memoir shines a bright light on the brutal effects of colonialism that are still felt today. The Cree son of a teenage single mother, Thomas-Müller struggles to find meaning and direction while growing up in Winnipeg during the turbulent 1980s and ’90s. After years of abuse and upheaval send him spiralling into a life of drugs and crime, he finds his way into activism, and with it, a more purposeful worldview that challenges his faith, identity, and perceptions of masculinity. Thomas-Müller’s writing style cleverly evolves throughout the book, shifting from the manic, fragmented memories of a traumatized boy into the more grounded reflections of a man who feels connected to his culture and land. Life in the City of Dirty Water honours the work of Indigenous activists around the world through one man’s inspiring quest for dignity.
