Originally published March 13, 2017 REVIEW: The Smallpox War in Nuxalk Territory by Tom Swanky Surrey: Dragon Heart Enterprises, 2016. $39.95 / 978-1-365-41053-6 Reviewed by Courtney Kirk * In 1862, colonial officials, supported by merchants, surveyors, and road builders, concocted a get-rich-quick scheme to link the coast of B.C. at Bella Coola to the…
Read more #103 Tainted blankets, tainted history
ESSAY: The story of a suitcase by Graham Brazier * From the cryptic contents of a stray suitcase that he inherited from a distant relative, Graham Brazier of Denman Island resurrects the otherwise forgotten personal history of Annie Watson (née Edwards, 1883-1966). Annie arrived in Winnipeg in 1910 and settled in Vancouver a few years…
Read more #101 The story of a suitcase
A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island by Michael Layland Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2016 $39.95 / 9781771511773 Reviewed by Robin Fisher First published Mar. 3, 2017 * When I returned to the coast after a decade living on the prairies I settled initially on Vancouver Island. Speaking to a friend who had…
Read more #98 Early Island attachments
Hell’s History: The United Steelworkers’ Fight to Prevent Workplace Deaths and Injuries from the 1992 Westray Mine Disaster through 2016 by Tom Sandborn Vancouver: United Steelworkers, 2016 9780995843707 Out of print in hard copy but free digital copy available here. Reviewed by Ron Verzuh First published Mar. 1, 2017 * Tom Sandborn’s Hell’s History opens…
Read more #97 Getting away with murder
Belonging Métis by Catherine Richardson (Kinewesquao) Vernon: J. Charlton Publishing, 2016 $30.00 / 9781926476070 Reviewed by Émilie Pigeon First published Feb. 28, 2017 * Despite being recognized as one of the three Aboriginal peoples of Canada in the Constitution Act of 1982, the Métis remain hard to define. From Vancouver Island to Labrador their…
Read more #96 Métis longing and belonging
I Had an Interesting French Artist to See Me This Summer: Emily Carr and Wolfgang Paalen in British Columbia by Colin Browne Vancouver: Figure 1, in collaboration with the Vancouver Art Gallery, 2016 $24.95 / 9781927958780. Reviewed by Elisabeth Otto First published Feb. 27, 2017 * Writer, documentary filmmaker, and cultural historian Colin Browne has…
Read more #95 Wolfgang meets Emily
British Columbia’s Cariboo Chilcotin Coast: A Photographer’s Journey by Chris Harris 108 Mile Ranch: Chris Harris and Country Light Publishing, 2016 $39.95 / 9780986581847 Reviewed by Trevor Marc Hughes First published Feb. 24, 2017 * First photographer Ian McAllister helped identify and preserve The Great Bear Rainforest. Now photographer Chris Harris sees the Chilcotin Ark…
Read more #94 Empire of the Cariboo Chilcotin
Britannia’s Navy on the West Coast of North America, 1812-1914 by Barry Gough Victoria: Heritage House, 2016 $29.99 / 9781772031102 Reviewed by Howard Macdonald Stewart First published Feb. 23, 2017 * Readers will know that Barry Gough, British Columbia’s premier naval historian, is equally seadog and landlubber. His torrid pace in retirement has included major…
Read more #93 BC’s naval heritage
People of the Saltwater: An Ethnography of Git lax m’oon by Charles R. Menzies Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2016 $45.00 (U.S.) / 9780803288089 Reviewed by Robert Muckle First published Feb. 22, 2017 * A pinch of sea salt goes with the territory… In People of the Saltwater, UBC anthropologist Charles Menzies provides an…
Read more #92 Of salmon, herring and abalone
From Left to Right: Maternalism and Women’s Political Activism in Postwar Canada by Brian Thorn Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016 $32.95 / 9780774832090 Reviewed by Lisa Pasolli First published Feb. 19, 2017 * Canadian women, far from being trapped in suburban homes and domesticity in the late 1940s and 1950s, were active across the political spectrum…
Read more #91 Nurturing postwar feminism
Lawyers’ Empire: Legal Professions and Cultural Authority, 1780-1950 by W. Wesley Pue Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016 $75 / 9780774833097 Reviewed by John McLaren First published Feb. 17, 2017 * In Lawyers’ Empire (UBC Press), legal historian Wesley Pue of the UBC law school traces the lives and struggles of the leaders and rebels of the…
Read more #89 Rebels with legal causes
The Miracle Mile: Stories of the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games by Jason Beck Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2016 $29.95 / 9781987915006 Reviewed by Roger Robinson First published Feb. 15, 2017 * In The Miracle Mile, Jason Beck explores the planning, hitches, and setbacks involved in Vancouver’s hosting of the 1954 British Empire and…
Read more #88 The ’54 Games began modern B.C.
Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgotten Battle of the First World War by Douglas E. Delaney and Serge Marc Durflinger, editors Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016 $34.95 / 9780774833592 Reviewed by Chris Arnett First published Feb. 12, 2017 * In Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgotten Battle of the First World War, military historians Doug Delaney and Serge Durflinger…
Read more #86 Capturing Hill 70
The Peace in Peril: The Real Cost of the Site C Dam by Christopher Pollon (text) and Ben Nelms (photos) Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2016 $24.95 / 9781550177800 Reviewed by John Gellard First published Feb. 11, 2017 * The 100 kilometres of the Peace River Valley between Hudson’s Hope and Fort St John has rich alluvial…
Read more #85 Flooding a Garden of Eden
The Queen of the North Disaster: The Captain’s Story by Colin Henthorne Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2016 $24.95 / 9781550177619 Reviewed by Jan Drent First published Feb. 8, 2017 * Ten years after the sinking of the Queen of the North in 2006, the vessel’s captain, Colin Henthorne, provides a first-hand account of why the…
Read more #84 The coast was not clear
The Hidden Journals: Captain Vancouver and his Mapmaker by Mary Tasi and Wade Baker Vancouver: Sky Spirit, 2015 $20 / 9780993843815 Reviewed by Mike Starr First published Feb. 8, 2017 * This book is not a scholarly study, but Wade Baker and Mary Tasi have accomplished something that many scholars would trade their tenure to…
Read more #83 Vancouver and his mapmaker
A Queer Love Story: The Letters of Jane Rule and Rick Bebout by Marilyn R. Schuster (editor) Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017 $50 / 9780774835435 Reviewed by Alan Twigg First published Feb. 7, 2017 * “I hope I’m remembered for being lusty, feisty and full of life.” — Jane Rule People who knew Jane Rule are…
Read more #82 Jane’s ruling aphorisms
J. Fenwick Lansdowne by Tristram Lansdowne (editor) Portland, OR: Pomegranate Communications, 2014 US $65.00 / 9780764966705 Reviewed by Briony Penn First published Feb. 7, 2017 * A fixture of Victoria’s artistic, cultural, and natural communities for five decades, James Fenwick Lansdowne (1937-2008) is now the subject of a book edited by his son Tristram, featuring…
Read more #81 Portraits of Fenwick Lansdowne
Crossing Home Ground: A Grassland Odyssey through Southern Interior British Columbia by David Pitt-Brooke Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2016 $32.95 / 9781550177749 Reviewed by Harold Rhenisch First published Jan. 25, 2017 * David Pitt-Brooke — naturalist, veterinarian, and writer — walked a thousand kilometres through the grasslands of the southern interior of British Columbia, from…
Read more #79 Emptying the grasslands
Hard Knox: Musings from the Edge of Canada by Jack Knox, foreword by Ian Ferguson Victoria: Heritage House, 2016 $19.95 / 9781772031508 Reviewed by Bill Engleson First published Jan. 25th, 2017 * I cracked open Jack Knox’s Hard Knox: Musings from the Edge of Canada on the coldest day of 2016 on Denman Island, alarmed…
Read more #78 Godiva, Zulu, and Nanaimo bars