Talk:Farley Mowat

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Order of Canada[edit]

Does the Order of Canada really needs its own section? --Ducio1234 (talk) 02:14, 15 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Army Rank[edit]

Would the person who keeps adding in that FM was a Major at the conclusion of WWII kindly provide some sort of citation? In spite of being a lifelong FM fan, I have never heard he was a Major although I know that was the rank his father achieved. If he had a temporary field commission as a Major, then that is how the rank shoudl be described, not "having briefly served in the rank of major", as this implies that he was subjected to a demotion as some form of military discipline - also something I have been unable to find any evidence of.--CokeBear 12:18, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

He is was in fact a major. I swear. I have been to his house and he showed me a sign that he would put over his door and it read:Magor F.Mowat — Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.104.251.66 (talk) 18:35, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You'll still need a reliable source, see WP:RS. Dougweller (talk) 19:32, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ortona[edit]

I am a little puzzled by your edits - first of all you said you made something make more sense when in fact you turned it COMPLETELY incoherent. Second of all, spending Christmas Day weeping does not state that you spent the entire 24 hours non-stop weeping. Your edits were nonsensical and your reasoning ridiculous.--CokeBear 12:18, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Your sentence read "During the Moro River campaign, he suffered from battle stress, heightened after spending one Christmas Day in Ortona, Italy weeping at the feet of an unconscious friend who had an enemy bullet in his head." "One" seems ambiguous and makes the sentence awkward; so I removed it. You also had the location wrong, which needed to be changed. You haven't changed it back so the edit must have been worthwhile. *shrugs* If they're so non-sensical and ridiculous, feel free to change them back. You may want to look up the rules on Wikipedia etiquette as well as good faith; I find your last sentence needlessly confrontational and abusive.Michael Dorosh 13:12, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well there you have it - the life of another fearless, honest activist exposing the pathetic attitudes of Reagan, Bush, and all their ilk - what hope has the world got if nations like the US vote in people like that?

Farley honest? Did you read the criticism section of this article?

People of the Deer[edit]

I would not take issue with the fact that People of the Deer (1952) made Mowat into a literary celebrity. However, I have doubts that his novelistic account of Inuit life in the Kivaliq was "largely responsible for the shift in the Canadian government's Inuit policy: the government began shipping meat and dry goods to a people they previously denied existed." Not true. This shift was underway before the publication of Mowat's novel. Can someone at least cite a source for this claim about People of the Deer, and its effects on arctic administration?

His book contributed to the shift, but was not "largely responsible" for it. That shift was already well underway. By the late 1940s, the former HBC trader James Cantley had distributed a memo to the Federal Government informing them of the declining fur industry and the potential problems facing Inuit. By May 1952, the "Eskimo Affairs Committee" started meeting to solve the "Eskimo problem" as it was called. See: 1952. “NAC RG22, volume 254, file 40-8-1, volume 2 (1949-1952), “The Future of the Canadian Eskimo”, 15 May 1952, p. 1. RCAP”. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.239.199.148 (talk) 00:04, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Correcting book title -- West Viking to Westviking[edit]

The title of Mowat's 1965 book was given as West Viking. I've changed it to read Westviking, as it's printed on and in my own copy. Cactus Wren 08:31, 22 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]


142.68.252.236 01:24, 22 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The article says the book is largely discredited. This is vague. Can the allegation say what is disputed and who disputes? The first 50 entries for the book on Google reveal no dissent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.94.82.148 (talk) 04:36, 26 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Years in Newfoundland[edit]

I have just finished reading Claire Mowat's 'The Outport People' (1983), an autobiographical account of their stay in Burgeo (called 'Baleena' in her book). She states clearly that they lived there 5 years and not 8 as the article states.

How about supplying personal details? Farley Mowat has been married to Claire Mowat for at least 45 years! He also had a family before marrying Claire.

142.68.252.236 01:24, 22 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Studying wolves[edit]

Does anybody (who knows more about him-- I can't find a good online biography) know how long he actually did study wolves for? The 'criticism' section parrots two contradictory critics, one who claims he studied wolves for 90 hours, the other for 'less than four weeks'. Without providing context, what's the point of including this criticism? Hutchie6 (talk) 00:02, 7 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Noted Personalities in Northumberland County, Ontario[edit]

Added section of Location to add him as a Noteworthy personality in Northumberland County, as Port Hope, Ontario is within this County Area. Richard416282 (talk) 07:31, 10 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Citation issues[edit]

  • The Toronto Star has written that Mowat's memoirs are at least partially fictional. In a 1968 interview with CBC Radio, Mowat admitted that he does not let the facts get in the way of the truth (Canada Reads)[citation needed]. Once, when Mowat said that he had spent two summers and a winter studying wolves, the Toronto Star wrote that he had only spent 90 hours studying the wolves. [citation needed]
  • An article by John Goddard in the May 1996 issue of Saturday Night lays out a somewhat more in-depth criticism of Mowat's celebrated works, especially Never Cry Wolf. In his article, "A Real Whopper," he repeatedly challenged Mowat's claim that the book was non-fictional. He wrote, "As for the authenticity of his wolf story, he virtually abandoned his wolf-den observations after less than four weeks." Mowat denied Goddard's criticisms but allegedly did not refute specific accusations.[citation needed]

I can see the problems with the first paragraph, though the wrong tags were used. (It should have been [full citation needed]). But the second paragraph seems to have a clear source. "A Real Whopper". John Goddard. Saturday Night May 1996. The only thing that's missing is the page number, which is a trivial thing for a magazine citation.   Will Beback  talk  01:30, 17 September 2011 (UTC)ugh it[reply]

I hadn't thought of that, although it doesn't seem verfiable. The magazine has ceased publication and I couldn't find anything at the vestigial site. Noloop (talk) 01:41, 17 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Presumably there are libraries which have it in their holdings. In fact, it looks like it's widely held.[1]   Will Beback  talk  01:51, 17 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
As for the first para, some of it was easily found [2] although not quite accurately reported so would need a rewrite. It took me seconds. Dougweller (talk) 06:01, 17 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There is an uncited reference to Mowat winning the Mark Twain award in 1971 but the linked Wikipedia page says that the award was inaugurated in 1972. He is not listed as winning in the list of awards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.188.16.137 (talk) 02:32, 12 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Also, what is a Knight of Mark Twain? A google search on the phrase comes up empty. The web page from which many of the awards in this list are derived looks very dubious. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.188.16.137 (talk) 17:40, 12 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Untitled[edit]

Farley Mowat's death http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2014/05/07/farley_mowat_acclaimed_canadian_author_dead_at_92.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.229.79.116 (talk) 16:25, 7 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Environmental Advocacy[edit]

Shouldn't this article have a section on environmental advocacy? A lot of the news articles focus on his outspoken defense of animals and wilderness areas. —Anne Delong (talk) 12:47, 8 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

My thought exactly. He is notable for his books and environmental advocacy. Even Sea Shepherd has a ship named after him. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 13:13, 8 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

My Discovery of America[edit]

Would anyone like to contribute to the discussion at Talk:My Discovery of America ? I've never read the book, so I don't feel that strongly about the issue. I imagine there are other Farley Mowat books that are more notable that don't have articles, but if this one is notable by reason of Mowat's notability, it should be kept. I was only watching the page because I uploaded File:Mowat-My-Discovery-of-America.jpg as fair use, but it will soon be deleted if the page is deleted. Thanks. - TheMightyQuill (talk) 01:13, 17 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

There's a basic misunderstanding of WP:NB here. When it says works of some authors are always notable, it means people such as Shakespeare, Darwin, etc. Mowat isn't that historically significant and I am quite sure that his life and body of work is not a common subject of academic study. Dougweller (talk) 08:22, 17 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Cool. In that case, it's good that it was redirected. Thanks! - TheMightyQuill (talk) 16:38, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"Official" web site[edit]

The "official" web site link is to a commercial site, specifically a bookstore selling Mowat's work.

The article thoughtfully provides links to 2 other sites (presumably "unofficial") hawking the books. I wasn't aware it was Wikipedia's purpose to stand in for Amazon.

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