“Darcy describes her struggles as the only woman or one of few in the corridors and meeting halls of union power. For those of us who were there, can I have an Amen, Sister; for those now used to seeing women in positions of union leadership, it could be instructive to learn how it was, not so long ago, for a woman in a union leadership position to speak truth to power – to both sides of the table.” Wendy Burton reviews Leading from the Heart: The Battles of a Feminist, Union Leader and Politician, by Judy Darcy (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2026) $40 / 9781771625043
“Early in Rob Simpson’s affectionate tribute to his co-author/subject, we learn that Bill McCreary (2014) is one of only two NHL on-ice officials inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this century, the other being linesman Ray Scapinello (2008). Is this an indication of both men’s exceptional contributions to the sport, or more a reflection of the sorry state of on-ice officiating since 1999? Or both? Whatever the case, it is fair to say that the gravitas referees once enjoyed in the world’s premier hockey league has diminished since McCreary first put on the NHL zebra stripes in 1984.” Daniel Gawthrop reviews Stories from Ice Level: A Great NHL Referee Tells All, by Rob Simpson with Bill McCreary (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2026) $24.95 / 9781771624824
“Who committed the murders and why and what to do about it and what happens later takes up the rest of this remarkable story, the seventh book in what has evolved as author Geoff Mynett’s stand-out series of deep dives into formerly obscure corners of British Columbia history. William Brown is the subject of the author’s previous book in the series, A Gentleman of Considerable Talent.” Steven Brown reviews The Fort George Murders of 1823: Crises and Coexistence in New Caledonia, by Geoff Mynett (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2026) $28.00 / 9781773861791
“Pontefract fills his argument with far too much jargon, but he stresses an important point: by making older workers redundant we lose what he calls the ‘rubies’ on the job. That is the old-timers who have the collective know-how that needs to be combined with the ‘rivers’ and ‘rocks’ i.e., the new hires and the mid-career workers.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Future of Work Is Grey: The Untapped Value of Age in the Workplace, by Dan Pontefract (Vancouver: Page Two Books, 2026) $36.95 / 9781774586440
“Elizabeth May said that COPs are important gatherings because they keep climate change on the map. She entered the forum in 1992 as the executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada and attended many COPs. One of her functions was to keep an eye on politicians sent to COPs and then report to environmental activists what she learned.” DC Reid reviews 30 Climate COPs Later: Stories from Canadian Participants, by Thomas Burelli, Alexandre Lillo, Lauren Touchant, Lynda Hubert Ta, and Elie Klee (eds.) (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9780776645575
“I did however ask myself: Why have things degenerated so markedly from the zenith of lounge singing? We’ve learned to disdain crooners, haven’t we? Is it because Bill Murray’s Nick Winters (or ‘fill in the blank’) and others have tapped into crooning as a vein of satire, a motherlode of spoof? This comedic riffing can’t have been solely responsible for their demise, could it? Surely not. No, there had to be better reasons than that to explain this phenomena especially when viewed against the almost unimaginable backdrop of Bublé’s commercial success.” Graham Ware contributes the essay When the crooner was King: The rise & fall of an old musical aristocracy.
“Richard Stursberg’s Lament for a Literature suggests there is a causal link between the parlous financial state of Canadian publishing, a less robust Canadian literature, and a consequent decline in Canadian national culture. All of that, he says, can only be slowed by immediate government protective action.” Richard Butler reviews Lament for a Literature: The Collapse of Canada’s Book Publishing, by Richard Stursberg (Toronto: Sutherland House, 2026) $19.95 / 9781998365753
“Much of this restoration work laid out in Nature-First Cities, is happening in real-time with municipalities creating sustainability master plans, and nature-based development in partnerships with residential developers among others. The final chapters of the book detail the process for bottom-up land stewardship, joining individuals, neighbours, and community groups.” Ryan Mitchell reviews Nature-First Cities: Restoring Relationships with Ecosystems and with Each Other, by Cam Brewer, Herb Hammond, and Sean Markey (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024) $39.95 / 9780774868648
“With a new book scheduled to be released in the fall, author and curator emeritus at the Royal British Columbia Museum Robert D. Turner is continuing his chronicling of British Columbia’s history of rail and steam. The Steamer SS Moyie: The Biography of the Sweetheart of Kootenay Lake, A Continuing Story Beginning in 1898 is being assembled by Harbour Publishing…” Trevor Marc Hughes presents an interview segment with historian Robert D. Turner.
“Robin Ward, a graduate of the celebrated Glasgow School of Art and respected architectural critic and author, does justice to that inheritance. He has added to the comprehensive yet accessible guidebooks he has written singly or collaboratively, including on Victoria and Vancouver, in this province. The photography is excellent and selection of buildings and civic statuary or artwork both astute and appropriate to exploring the built environment of Canada’s one-time leading metropolis.” Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe reviews Exploring Montréal: 151 Best Buildings, by Robin Ward (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2026) $29.95 / 9781771624619
“The title of the book, Reconciling, demonstrates the ongoing process of reconciliation and meaning of Larry’s journey through life. The book opens with a description by co-author Scott Steedman of Larry Grant, ‘…a short, weathered man of eighty-five years… an Elder of both the Vancouver Chinese community and the Musqueam Indian Band.’ Steedman asked Larry if he was interested in writing his life story one day. It took eight years, starting in 2017.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong, by Larry Grant, in conversation with Scott Steedman (Toronto: ECW Press, 2025) $26.95 / 9781770417984
“Byers provides compelling vignettes of encounters with workers returning to work after injury; pre-emptive inspections of structures that could lead to repetitive strain injury; and at times antagonistic encounters with supervisors. These are stories of inspection, vigilance, witnessing, and recording.” Wendy Burton reviews Coming Home from the Candy Factory, by Jane Byers (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $24 / 9781773861746
“Keeping the Books is a family history par excellence, the best of its genre that I have read, which traces the life of Alene Peck, a homesteader’s daughter in the Peace River district of British Columbia. It was a colourful life that Alene has chronicled and saved through a trove of letters, notes, and photographs that upon her death were bequeathed to her son, Ross Peck, who lives today in Skookumchuck, in BC’s Kootenays.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Keeping the Books: The life and times of a Peace River Homesteader’s Daughter, by Ross Peck (Cranbrook: Wild Horse Creek Press, 2025) $21.95 / 9781069794703
“By the time I got to Simon Fraser University in the early 1970s, Jim Harding had already left campus but his legacy lingered as SFU continued to fester with student unrest after the historic strike in 1967. That event labelled SFU a ‘radical’ campus and Harding was part of the cohort of students and faculty that openly challenged and defied the actions of the university administration. It was a bold, exciting, and educational moment. Harding was among the leaders.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Long Sixties: Stories from the New Left, by Jim Harding [ed.] (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2026) $29 / 9781773638034
“There are more than 240 life histories of all the fishes calling the strait home for all or part of the year. Dick Beamish and Jeff Marliave are well-known scientists who have put this book together for you.” DC Reid reviews Fishes of the Strait of Georgia: More than 240 Life Stories, by Dick Beamish & Jeff Marliave (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $80 / 9781990776830
“Victoria’s urban landscape is littered with these remnants or references, in this case, to the golden age of Victoria’s great garden estates. They are a part of a legacy of similar markers, such as iron curbs that once protected sidewalks from steel-rimmed carriage wheels, hitching posts for horses stabled in the Rockland and Fernwood neighbourhoods, or small pockets of Garry Oaks that survived from a pre-settlement habitat that nurtured the Lekwungen people. These touchstones of community memory lend richness and meaning to the built heritage that tells Victoria’s story.” Martin Segger contributes the article Silent Sentinels, adapted from his upcoming book Tending Eden: A garden history of Victoria.
“The book is primarily a record of the concept, strategies, and outcomes from an innovative government policy-development approach proposed by then-Premier Glen Clark. At the time Clark’s financially-strapped government was facing ‘an imminent economic crisis.’ The authors explain that Premier Clark was faced with almost 240,000 public employee contracts expiring on the same day, as well as two prior years of restraint.” Richard Fyfe reviews 35 Accords: Re-imagining British Columbia’s Public Sector Labour Relations
by Tony Penikett and John Calvert (Cambridge, UK: Ethics International Press, 2025) $57 / 9781837112791
“If the first part of the book hooked me with these bargain bites, the middle sections settled into a focus on some meatier topics. While remaining agnostic about parenting and pet ownership (he is neither a parent nor a current pet owner), there is a chapter on the costs of each, which provided fascinating reading. Always, he brings in the human element, relating conversations from folks he interviews.” Trish Bowering reviews Cheapskate in Lotusland: The Philosophy and Practice of Living Well on a Small Budget, by Steve Burgess (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2026) $26.95 / 9781771624633
“Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa begins with a conversation about her discovery and research into the one empirical example of an ancient practice, the raising of almost but not quite domestic animals who lived in isolation to protect them from inbreeding and physical damage, animals bred to provide the weft in essential weavings.” Linda Rogers reviews The Teachings of Mutton: A Coast Salish Woolly Dog, by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa et al (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $36.95 / 9781998526024
“BC Ferries indeed proved very popular from the beginning. In fact, the corporation underestimated its popularity. By 1965, seven larger ships were added, all basically the same design, plus three smaller ships for the inter-island routes. By 1970, five million passengers had been carried. By 1979, that number had doubled. Routes had been added, terminals built. Even larger ships were called for.” Steven Brown reviews Coastal Connections: A History of British Columbia Ferries and Passenger Ships, by Derek Hayes (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $50 / 9781998526383
