The Ballad of Danny Wolfe

Starred review from May 30, 2016
Danny Wolfe truly lived and died by the sword. In this engrossing biography, author and Globe and Mail reporter, Friesen explains how the horrific legacy of Canada's Indian Residential Schools and the rampant poverty of First Nations reserves coalesced into the life a man who had little other choice than to become an outlaw. Danny was born in Regina, Sask. in 1976. His alcoholic mother was a traumatized survivor of residential school abuse. Danny and his brother, Richard experienced a broken, violence-ridden home life from their earliest years. In 1988, they founded the Indian Posse street gang in Winnipeg. "In the gang," Friesen writes, "Richard and Danny found an acceptance they hadn't found anywhere else in their lives. School was a disaster, family life the same. With the Indian Posse, they had people who cared about them." Through 24 chronological chapters, Friesen details Danny's criminal life, from theft to murder. His story parallels the broader rise of First Nations gangs in Canada, a reckoning of sorts for generations of government-sanctioned cultural genocide and institutional racism. Friesen is a great writer who tells Danny's story with unbiased detachment. The implications of Canadian social policy as reflected in this outlaw's life should be clear to all readers. Highly recommended.