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#483 Métis bannock, Métis kinship

Memories of a Metis Settlement: Eighty Years of East Prairie Metis Settlement by Constance Brissenden (editor) Penticton: Theytus Books, 2018 $14.89 / 9781926886503 Reviewed by Angie Tucker First published Feb. 11, 2019 *   When I first received Constance Brissenden’s book, I thumbed through the pages, stopping to look at the faces and places in…
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#482 Two views of Raincoast Jews

Guide to Victoria’s Historic Jewish Cemetery by Amber Woods Victoria: Old Cemeteries Society, 2018 $15.00  /  9780968289945 Available at: jewishvictoria.wordpress.com/ordering/ * Raincoast Jews: Integration in British Columbia by Lillooet Nördlinger McDonnell Vancouver: Midtown Press, 2014 $22.95  /  9780988110120 Both books reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb First published Feb. 9, 2019 * * Here’s a curious pair…
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#481 Island characters

On The Rocks with Jack Knox: Islanders I will Never Forget by Jack Knox Victoria: Heritage House, 2018 $19.95 / 9781772032666 Reviewed by Keith Norbury First published Feb. 8, 2019 * It’s often said that journalism represents the first rough draft of history. As a reporter, editor, and columnist with the Victoria Times Colonist daily…
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#480 Witness to wolves and wilderness

Return of the Wolf: Conflict and Coexistence by Paula Wild Madeira Park: Douglas and McIntyre, 2018 $32.95 / 9781771622066 Reviewed by Loys Maingon First published Feb. 7, 2019 * As mankind changes the planet’s ecosystems, imperceptibly it also changes the distribution of animals and their genetics. Evolution never stops. So it is with members of…
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#479 On the wings of forever

ESSAY: Universal Technologies and Traditional Innovations: A Comprehensive Perspective for Museums by Yosef Wosk An Ormsby Exclusive, in collaboration with the The Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars First published Feb. 5, 2019 * We are pleased to present an essay by Yosef Wosk about nothing less than mankind’s accumulation and appreciation of shared knowledge and wisdom. This extraordinarily…
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#478 Land deals in Burquitlam

Property Values by Charles Demers Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018 $17.95 / 9781551527277 Reviewed by John Douglas Belshaw First published Feb. 4, 2019 * We need to talk about … Burquitlam. It’s liminal. Which is a scholarly word meaning it occupies “a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.” (Thank you,…
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#476 BC Books Spring 2019

BC Books Spring 2019 compiled by Susan Safyan, BA, MLS First published Feb. 1, 2019 * Here is a new feature from The Ormsby Review! A comprehensive preview of almost 150 forthcoming books (spring 2019) from BC publishers, plus selected books about BC topics by other publishers. Entries are listed alphabetically by author surname. Title…
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#475 Ian Waddell’s front row seat

Take the Torch: A Political Memoir by Ian Waddell Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2018 $22.95 / 9780889713475 Reviewed by Rod Drown First published Jan. 30, 2019 * In Take the Torch, long-time British Columbian New Democratic Party politician Ian Waddell tells, in detail and with humour, the story of how a Scottish boy made good in…
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#474 Decisions, decisions

How Churchill Waged War: The Most Challenging Decisions of the Second World War by Allen Packwood Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books, 2018 $34.95 (U.S.)  / 9781473893894 Reviewed by Peter Clarke First published Jan. 29, 2019 * Each new book about Winston Churchill inevitably faces the question of whether it is really necessary, since there…
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#473 Small cities take centre stage

Michael Lait reviews two books: Small Cities, Big Issues: Reconceiving Community in a Neoliberal Era by Christopher Walmsley and Terry Kading (editors) Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2018 $37.95 / 9781771991636 Free pdf available here. * No Straight Lines: Local Leadership and the Path From Government to Governance in Small Cities by Terry Kading (editor) Calgary:…
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#472 Okanagan trade & cattle trail

Trail North: The Okanagan Trail of 1856-68 and its Origins in British Columbia and Washington by Ken Mather Victoria: Heritage House, 2018 $22.95 / 9781772032307 Reviewed by Harold Rhenisch First published January 24th, 2019 * The British Columbia grasslands became cattle country, between 1858 and 1868, largely through the effects of a cattle route called…
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#471 The bard and the bees

Listening to the Bees by Mark L. Winston and Renée Sarojini Saklikar Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2018 $24.95 / 9780889713468 Reviewed by Michael Picard First published January 24, 2019 * This is a book about bees, so the title does not disappoint. But it is also a personal memoir of a life in science by an eminent…
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#470 Gender, manga, and teen idiom

Twin Studies by Keith Maillard Calgary: Freehand Books, 2018 $24.95 / 9781988298313 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski First published January 22, 2019 * We can never say what spark lies behind the gestation of a novel — a character, an incident, a storyline, perhaps a social or political issue. Some novels read as if they sprang…
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#469 From Passchendaele to Paris

A Piece of the Continent by Paul Nicholson Victoria: Paul Nicholson, 2018 $24.50 / 9781775192305 Available from Amazon.ca and from the author  Reviewed by Valerie Green First published January 19, 2019 * It is obvious from the first page of Paul Nicholson’s book that he is passionate about the two topics he covers in A…
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#468 Power, petroleum, and pipelines

Costly Fix: Power, Politics and Nature in the Tar Sands by Ian Urquhart Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018 $39.95 / 9781487594619 Oil’s Deep State: How the Petroleum Industry Undermines Democracy and Stops Action on Global Warming by Kevin Taft Toronto: Lorimer, 2017 $29.95 / 9781459409972 The Big Stall: How Big Oil and Think Tanks…
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#467 Mountains and motherhood

End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood by Jan Redford Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada, 2018 $21.00  /  9780345812322 Reviewed by Cherie Thiessen First published January 17, 2019 * With the subtitle Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood, Jan Redford‘s End of the Rope alerts us to the fact that her memoir merges two subjects—ferocity and…
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#466 A tribute to Richard Wagamese

INTERVIEW: Shelagh Rogers by Starlight: CBC’s Host of The Next Chapter Shines a Light on Indigenous Authors by Margot Fedoruk * Shelagh Rogers walks in with an air of authority and greets everyone warmly as she stands in line at the local coffee shop on Gabriola Island. Rogers wears the iconic pointy blue glasses that…
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#465 Flight to the Congo

White by Deni Ellis Béchard Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $19.95 / 9781772012088 Reviewed by Paul Headrick First published Jan. 15, 2019 * The narrator of White has a dramatic CV: freelance war reporter, novelist, and memoirist. It’s a background that closely matches the author’s, even down to the contents of their memoirs. Béchard’s explores his difficult…
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#464 A turbulent, alluring place

The Splendour & The Suffering/El Esplendor y el Sufrimiento: Poems and Travels in Mexico by Doug Beardsley, translated by Celso Cambiazo Victoria: Island Blue Book Printing, Arcos Spanish Translations, 2018. Available from Amazon.ca $19.95  / 9781999442200 Reviewed by Ron Dart First published Jan. 13, 2019 * A turbulent yet alluring place, Mexico has a long…
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