Description
"Reading the Riot Act" is a phrase that has entered the popular lexicon, meaning the action taken by authority figures when they perceive that their "charges" are getting out of hand. The act itself is a seldom-used piece of legislation actually designed to prevent a riot from taking place. Supposedly, the mere mention of the Riot Act is enough to bring hardened miscreants bent on destruction to their collective senses. But if a riot has started, it's already too late to read the Riot Act. Every city has its distinct history of rioting-the Rocket Richard riots in Montreal, the Christie Pits riot in Toronto, the Winnipeg and Regina riots, even the Shakespeare riots in New York where rival factions rioted over which actor was the better interpreter of Shakespeare's work. Reading the Riot Act is a popular history that rereads and rewrites the legacy of riots in Vancouver. The project was conceived following the city's Stanley Cup riots in 1994, when official reports and media coverage differed significantly from eyewitness accounts. Later, media reports on the APEC riots downplayed and obscured certain facets of the conflict. Seeking out sources beyond the official reports, Barnholden has compiled a record of participants and observers, allowing the "vanquished" to have their say. Barnholden shuns the simplistic "bad apple" explanation, and explores the deeper economic causes and effects of riots.
Praise for Reading the Riot Act:
BC Books in BC Schools Pick
"This book contains some stirring narrative of conflicts that have defined the history of Vancouver." (Prairie Fire)
"... demonstrates that even unexpected, apparently spontaneous flarings are about something deeper, from unemployment pressures, freedom of speech and inhumane conditions in prisons all the way to racism and the disappointing performances by our professional sports teams and Axl Rose, the frontman of the notorious GM Place no-show rock band Guns 'n Roses.
"This tapestry is woven against a backdrop of class war, demonstrating that while the rowdies ground beneath the heels of the police are always the working poor, it's suspiciously rare that they take their grievances to the neighbourhoods of their bosses. Challenging the popular conception that riots are just the result of 'a few bad apples' sowing discontent, Barnholden advances the competing thesis that the entire orchard may in fact be infested with parasites." (The Columbia Journal)
"Until Reading the Riot Act was published, the book containing the most detailed information on riots in Vancouver was the local police department's autobiography, A Century of Service (1986), which Michael Barnholden makes reference to in his own text. The difference with Reading the Riot Act is its focus and perspective, which presents riots as battles in the class war, as it aims to cut through the media distortion around such events and dispense with the 'bad apple' theory of their cause. It makes for a more engaging, accessible and believable read than the police department's book." (Max Sartin, The Rain Review of Books)
Contributor Notes
Michael Barnholden is associate director of Humanities 101 at the University of British Columbia and managing editor of 'West Coast Line' at Simon Fraser University. He is the author of several books of poetry and non-fiction, most recently, 'Reading the Riot Act' (Anvil 2005). A Vancouver resident since 1970, Michael works as an advocate with the B.C. Coalition of People with Disbilities.
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age:
- 15
- Grade:
- 10
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Annotations
Librarian review
Reading the Riot Act: A Brief History of Riots in Vancouver
In this book, the author claims Vancouver riots are a result of class struggle. The riots examined include the anti-Asian riots of 1907, the free speech riots of 1909, the unemployment riots of 1935, the rebellion of Japanese prisoners in 1942, the 1971 Gastown riot, the 1972 Rolling Stones riots, the 1994 Stanley Cup riot, the 1997 APEC riot, the 1998 Riot at the Hyatt, the 2002 Britannia riot, the 2002 Guns ‘N’ Roses riot and the 2004 Punk Rock riot. This is a thorough examination of rioting in Vancouver.
Michael Barnholden is the author of a poetry collection On the Ropes and Gabriel Dumont Speaks. He was a co-editor of Writing Class, an anthology of the Kootenay School of Writing.
Caution: occasional obscenities throughout the text
Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. BC Books for BC Schools. 2006-2007.
