Canadian Pacific Railway on the Revelstoke Division. Volume Six. The Connaught Tunnel — 106 Years of Service by Douglas R. Mayer Revelstoke: Revelstoke Heritage Railway Society, 2022 $40.00 / 9781999416850 Reviewed by Robert D. Turner Available from the Revelstoke Railway Museum, P.O. Box 3018, 719 Track Street West, Revelstoke, BC, V0E 2S0 (railwaymuseum.com) for $40.00…
Read more 1798 Under Mount Macdonald
Century of White Pass & Yukon Route Equipment by Carl E. Mulvihill, edited by Keith Nore Whitehorse: Yukon Transportation Museum, 2022 $59.00 / 9781777544317 Reviewed by Robert D. Turner * The White Pass & Yukon Route’s fascinating international railway has a history going back to the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon. It was built…
Read more 1784 Along the White Pass & Yukon
Knight of the Rails by Christine Welldon Toronto: Red Deer Press, 2022 $14.95 / 9780889956698 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Move Over Dickens: Meet a Canadian Pip and An Unusual Artful Dodger Novels for teenagers rarely cross my desk these days. In my youth I revelled in the adventures of the Hardy Boys until Mom…
Read more 1780 Move over Dickens
Home is where the street is: Commercial Drive photos and poems by Rodney De Croo * I’ve lived in East Vancouver for thirty-five years. East Van is where I rented my first basement suite apartment after living on the streets as a young man struggling with addiction. It was in the basements of churches and…
Read more 1767 Home is where the street is
Scrubbing the Sky: Inside the Race to Cool the Planet by Paul McKendrick Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2023 $28.95 / 9781773272085 Reviewed by Douw Steyn * The strange “naked ape” we are has been on planet earth as a distinct species for about 200,000 years. Most of that time we spent migrating across all continents,…
Read more 1765 Cooling our jets
Incredible Crossings: The History and Art of the Bridges, Tunnels and Inland Ferries that Connect British Columbia by Derek Hayes Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2022 $46.95 / 9781550179903 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Pacific Highways and Byways: Travelling Through BC History by Boat, Train, Road or Armchair Pick a road, any road. Chances are you’ll…
Read more 1761 Pacific highways and byways
Announcing the BC Review interview series by Richard Mackie * In November 2022, at the most recent board meeting of the Ormsby Literary Society, the chair, Byron Sheardown, suggested that we open a YouTube channel and start an interview series. Board member Trevor Marc Hughes jumped at the suggestion. “I’ve got filmmaking experience,” he said,…
Read more 1757 Announcing interview series
Chinese Victoria: A Long and Difficult Journey by John Adams Victoria: Discover the Past, 2022 $80.00 / 97809973124125 Reviewed by Robert Amos To obtain a copy of Chinese Victoria, contact Discover the Past, 634 Battery Street, Victoria V8V 1E5. price $80 + $4 GST = $84.00 * A book about Victoria’s Chinatown is sure to…
Read more 1753 Chinatown comes alive
Forgotten Cranbrook: A Photo History of Early Cranbrook & District by Keith G. Powell, Derryll White, and Erin Knutson Cranbrook: Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History, 2022 $29.95 / 9780981214696 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Pioneer impermanence: A photographic history tour of the East Kootenays I am staring into the faces of several older men…
Read more 1744 Pioneer impermanence
Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Towers, Temples and Skyscrapers by Gregor Craigie, illustrated by Kathleen Fu Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2022 $29.95 / 9781459821880 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Was the Tower of Jericho built as a defensive watchtower or a mechanism to help farmers calculate the summer solstice? What are the advantages…
Read more 1737 The sky’s the limit
The Secret of Bell Island by Mike Phelan Victoria: FriesenPress, 2021 $28.99 / 9781039127296 Reviewed by Valerie Green * This author has written a very thought-provoking story set on Bell Island in Newfoundland during two time periods – the Second World War and the present-day — which also makes for an intriguing narrative of a…
Read more 1732 Bell Island intrigue
Hard Is the Journey: Stories of Chinese Settlement in British Columbia’s Kootenay by Lily Chow Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2022 $26.00 / 9781773860749 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Looking Deeper into History: The Trails of Chinese Immigrants Revealed in the Kootenays What a pleasant surprise to see Cameron Mah on the first page of Lily…
Read more 1723 The forgotten Chinese
An essay by Patrick A. Dunae Naming British Columbia * The British Columbia Review is a year old. Previously known as The Ormsby Review (2016), it was renamed The British Columbia Review on February 10, 2022. The new name was greeted enthusiastically, for the most part.[1] A few readers were unhappy that it had ‘British…
Read more 1721 Naming British Columbia
Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood by Hilary Peach Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2022 $22.00 / 9781772141955 Reviewed by Catherine Owen * “People love to read about work” — Stephen King The best writers make readers interested in a subject they never imagined they might be compelled by. I think of Cormac…
Read more 1711 Manways and shabby motels
Principled Governance: When Everything Matters by David S. Fushtey, edited by Richard Littlemore and Moura Quayle, foreword by Moura Quayle Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, 2021 $45.04 (US) / 9781648026546 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * “It’s like the setup for a bad joke: an economist, an MBA, a lawyer, a bureaucrat, an activist, a…
Read more 1706 Dave’s boardroom etiquette
Random Walks: New West from the Street by Alan Haig-Brown White Rock: Image West Productions, 2022 $36.95 / 9780994817525 Reviewed by Daniel Gawthrop * When I first saw this book available for review, I snapped it up right away. I love going for walks in New Westminster, where I live, and was eager to compare notes…
Read more 1701 Wandering the haunted city
An essay by Brian Smallshaw: Out of Options with the Freedom Convoy? * Whatever you think about the Freedom Convoy’s occupation of Ottawa and the blocking of border crossings in Windsor and Coutts, the Canadian government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to shut down a protest should be of concern to every Canadian who…
Read more 1700 Freedom Convoy: out of options?
Converging Empires: Citizens and Subjects in the North Pacific Borderlands, 1867-1945 by Andrea Geiger Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022 $35.95 / 9780774867993 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * When Empires Collide: How the Pacific Northwest was won, lost and sold Andrea Geiger takes readers to an early moment in Pacific Northwest history, one that sheds much light…
Read more 1696 When empires collide
Following the Telegraph Trail: A Trek of a Lifetime by Irene J. Huntley Victoria: FriesenPress, 2021 $14.99 / 9781039110441 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Irene J. Huntley has written a worthy little book — Following the Telegraph Trail — which documents the adventurous trek taken by her father, Don Huntley, and his friend, Gunnar Nillson,…
Read more 1695 South to British Columbia
Gilly the Ghillie: More Chronicles of a West Coast Fishing Guide by David Giblin Victoria: Heritage House, 2020 $19.95 / 9781772033359 Reviewed by Matthew Downey * The treacherous rapids and whirlpools of the many labyrinthine waterways that wind through the islands off Vancouver Island’s northeast coastal stretch may often seem out of time in their…
Read more 1692 Fisherman’s return