Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens: A History of Indian-White Relations in Canada is the newly revised third edition by J. R. Miller. A professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan, Miller has made substantial additions to his comprehensive 1989 text. Miller views Indian-White relations within a four-stage framework. His original thesis remains unchanged but his revisions acknowledges the changes from Oka in 1990, the sovereignty issue, and the results of several recent court decisions such as Delgamuukw. He has also added new material about the changes in the North and the birth of Nunavut; residential schools, treaty making, and land claims.. The narrative begins at time of contact and covers early commercial and military alliances, development of reserves and residential schools, the role of missionaries, the Red River, the numbered Treaties, the North-west Rebellion, development of political organization, land claims, self-government, Meech Lake, Oka, and the Nass River. Chapter 6 is titled, Reserves, Residential Schools, and the Threat of Assimilation.
This wide-ranging text must of necessity treat significant events with minimal coverage and interpretation. It sticks entirely to the relationship between First Nations and Non-Natives and does not cover First Nations social and cultural history. However, Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens is an important basic introduction to the complex and diverse history of Indian-White relations.