Gold Rush Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Nellie Cashman by Thora Kerr Illing Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2016 $18.95 / 9781771511599 Reviewed by Charlene Porsild First published April 11, 2017 * Thora Illing’s Gold Rush Queen retells the life and times of Nellie Cashman, a beautiful, Irish-American businesswoman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, champion dog musher and lifelong spinster…
Read more #118 Grubstake angel
Ellen Neel: The First Woman Totem Pole Carver An exhibit at Legacy Gallery, Victoria, BC Reviewed by Megan A. Smetzer First published April 11, 2017 * Between January 14 and 1 April 2017, the University of Victoria’s Legacy Art Gallery hosted an exhibit, Ellen Neel: The First Woman Totem Pole Carver, curated by Carolyn Butler-Palmer…
Read more #117 The belated legacy of Ka’kasolas
First Published April 5, 2017 During a speech in 2017, Richard Mackie lamented the loss of historical buildings on Vancouver Island for a NIC Elder College lecture entitled “Dead Dog or Land of Plenty? Creating and Effacing History in the Comox Valley.” by George Le Masurier | Apr 4, 2017 *** Fresh out of university…
Read more #115 Alas, poor Comox
Medicine Unbundled: A Journey Through the Minefields of Indigenous Health Care by Gary Geddes Victoria: Heritage House, 2017 $22.95 / 9781772031645 Reviewed by Mary-Ellen Kelm First published April 4, 2017 * Harold Cardinal’s assessment of Canada’s Indigenous policy in 1969 as “a thinly disguised programme of extermination” in The Unjust Society is born out almost…
Read more #114 From apartheid to resurgence
Exhibiting Nation: Multicultural Nationalism (And Its Limits) in Canada’s Museums by Caitlin Gordon-Walker Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016 $32.95 / 9780774831642 Reviewed by Mike Starr First published April 2, 2017 * In Exhibiting Nation, Caitlin Gordon-Walker explores the ways in which Canadian multicultural nationalism has influenced exhibits at three of the country’s major museums. Gordon-Walker suggests…
Read more #112 When good isn’t good enough
The Secular Northwest: Religion and Irreligion in Everyday Postwar Life by Tina Block Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017 $32.95 / 9780774831291 Reviewed by Chelsea Horton First Published March 31, 2017 * Tina Block has examined the nature of atheism in British Columbia and Washington State in the postwar period. “This was not a universally secular region,”…
Read more #111 Leave religion at the Rockies
Bill Reid Collected by Martine J. Reid Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2016, in collaboration with the Bill Reid Centre $19.95 / 9781771621151 Reviewed by Victoria Wyatt First Published March 28, 2017 * Much has been written about Bill Reid (1920-1998), the internationally known Haida artist whose monumental works appear in contexts such as the Canadian…
Read more #110 Bill Reid’s legacy enhanced
Great Fortune Dream: The Struggles and Triumphs of Chinese Settlers in Canada, 1858-1966 by David Chuenyan Lai and Ding Guo Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2016 $26.95 / 9781987915037 Reviewed by Tzu-I Chung First published March 27, 2107 * In Great Fortune Dream, David Chuenyan Lai and Ding Guo tell of the struggles and triumphs of…
Read more #109 From exclusion to equality
Where Mountains Meet The Sea: an Illustrated History of the District of North Vancouver by Daniel Francis Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2016 $39.95. 9781550177510 Reviewed by Trevor Carolan First Published March 22, 2017 * Daniel Francis, editor of the Encyclopedia of British Columbia and another twenty-four titles, turns his capable hand to local history in…
Read more #107 Moodyville, mudflats & Maisie
Beyond Germs: Native Depopulation in North America Catherine M. Cameron, Paul Kelton, and Alan C. Swedlund (editors) Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2015 U.S. $29.95 / 9780816535545 Reviewed by Jody Decker First published March 18, 2017 * As a follow-up to Courtney Kirk’s review of Tom Swanky’s controversial The Smallpox War in Nuxalk Territory [See…
Read more #106 Devastation beyond germs
Canucks in Khaki: Langley, the Lower Mainland, and the Great War of 1914 to 1918 by Warren Sommer Fort Langley: Legacy Heritage Consultants, 2017 $39.95 / 9780995803701 an extract from the foreword by Mark Forsythe First Published March 16, 2017 * A biting wind whips up from the Douai Plain; stabs of rain push us back…
Read more #105 From Aldergrove to Vimy Ridge
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?
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 Métisby 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 Métisness can be…
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’oonby 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 ethnography of…
Read more #92 Of salmon, herring and abalone