“This book is a tool kit, neither poetry, nor the story inversions that alleviate the pain of living in post-colonial society, but a logical overview from a sympathetic perspective.” Linda Rogers reviews Indigenous Rights in One Minute: What You Need to Know to Talk Reconciliation by Bruce McIvor (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, Nightwood Editions, 2025) $22.95 / 9780889714885
“Adam Jones’s book can help each of us in reaching a principled position, in articulating it, and in understanding why others might rationally have arrived at and articulated a different view.” Richard Butler reviews Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction (4th ed.), by Adam Jones (New York: Routledge, 2024) $61.99 / 9781032028101
“The newspapers of our day seem to be in disarray, crumbling from lack of readers and funding. Struggling to continue while the government attempts to step in and help. There is always apprehension when a powerful organization steps in offering financial assistance since news organizations know there is usually a caveat.” Jeffrey Stychin reviews Tomorrow’s News: How to Fix Canada’s Media, by Marc Edge (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2024) $21 / 9781554202140
“The more we are immersed in the life, activism, and writings of Tommy Douglas and Milton Acorn, the more we will be walked into a unique Canadian synthesis of faith, literature, and politics that has still much to commend it.” Ron Dart contributes an essay on the work of the late poet and storyteller, Milton Acorn.
“Messamore doesn’t predict such potential outcomes. Her job, and she does it well, is to reveal the historical facts about early 20th-century elections. But we may be seeing parallels to our political past in the run-up to our April 28 federal election. Will Mark Carney be Mackenzie King and Pierre Poilievre Arthur Meighan?” Ron Verzuh reviews Times of Transformation: The 1921 Canadian General Election, by Barbara J. Messamore (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2025) $19.56 / 9780774870597
“Is Amor de Cosmos deserving of eroding public awareness? Just how significant was he in the grand story of our province?” Matthew Downey writes the essay The hidden eccentric: fading memories of Amor de Cosmos, B.C’s father of confederation.
“While the essays in this volume are multi-vocal, the predominant voice is of the scholar. The language is complex and heavily cited. These authors are, for the most part, scholars speaking to each other in the expected and specialized language of the academy.” Wendy Burton reviews Making Space for Indigenous Feminism, 3rd edition by Gina Starblanket (ed.) (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2024) $40 / 9781773635507
“Robinson’s book, unlike the purpose of those who vilify her, is not about demonizing the other. It’s about self-scrutiny — for us.” Stephen Hume reviews Truth be Told, by Selina Robinson (Self-published, 2024) $30 / 9781069165107
“Gumboots in the Straits is a book of poignant nostalgia, even romance, evoking the BC coast as experienced by men now in their 70s and 80s. It was a special time and place of beauty, serenity, opportunity, and adventure for those attracted to the sea, boats, and closeness to nature.” Tom Koppel reviews Gumboots in the Straits: Nautical Adventures from Sointula to the Salish Sea, edited by Lou Allison with Jane Wilde (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2024) $26 / 9781773861548
“Wilson-Raybould’s approach—based on learning, understanding, and acting—clarifies complex issues surrounding Indigenous justice and colonial history, making them approachable for readers of all backgrounds, including newcomers.” Amy Tucker reviews True Reconciliation: How to be a Force for Change, by Jody Wilson-Raybould (Toronto: McLelland & Stewart, 2024) $22 / 9780771004407
“This important book spans five decades and a global geography. In its ten chapters, historical geographer and professor emeritus at York University, James R. Gibson weaves together the complex economic and transportation history of the maritime fur trade along the northwest coast of North America in a remarkable study.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews the revised edition of Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods: Voices of the Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785-1841, by James R. Gibson (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) $47.95 / 9780228007319
“The absence of major nuclear reactors in British Columbia may lead British Columbians to believe that nuclear energy is not an immediate concern. Not so. It is important to remember that, from its inception in 1961, BC Hydro has repeatedly proposed building reactors in the earthquake-prone Lower Mainland.” Dr. Loys Maingon reviews Nuclear Is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change by M.V. Ramana (Brooklyn, NY: Verso, 2024) $39.95 / 9781804290002
“At first, I was intimidated by the complexity and scope of the book. Especially with so many voices involved. But very quickly Wake provides a conduit into Berger’s story that makes it reader-friendly.” Sage Birchwater reviews Against The Odds: The Indigenous Rights Cases of Thomas R. Berger by Drew Ann Wake (Calgary: Durvile & Uproute Books, 2024)
$37.50 / 9781990735486
“Langford is a retired scholar who knows the communities and has a special knowledge of towns like Fernie, Sparwood, and others in the East Kootenay district…He also knows his mining labour history and he helpfully supplies short sidebars of specific mine leaders.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Lights on the Tipple Are Going Out: Fighting Economic Ruin in a Canadian Coalfield Community by Tom Langford (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024) $39.95 / 9780774869294
Probing account of representational ethics “is elucidating without ever being didactic and genuinely enjoyable to read,” yet prompts “more hope than outrage.”—Jessica Poon reviews Under the White Gaze: Solving the Problem of Race and Representation in Canadian Journalism, by Christopher Cheung (Vancouver: UBC Press/Purich Books, 2024) $24.95 / 9780774881111
Debut novel immerses readers “in the infested Gothic stream of the American South” and portrays memorably obsessive characters “nurtured on beer and cigarettes.” —Michael Greenstein reviews After We Drowned, by Jill Yonit Goldberg (Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2024) $22.00 / 9781772142273
“So perhaps it’s not surprising that there is no chapter on the Pacific Province. Oh, there is plenty here on the ‘West,’ but in Globe geography the West stopped at the Rockies.” Ron Verzuh reviews A Nation’s Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada, by John Ibbitson [ed.] (Toronto: Penguin Random House [Signal], 2024) $34 / 9780771006289
“At first, I questioned the notion that we could rely on technology to solve the problems caused by technology. It seemed a slippery slope. But McDonald explores ways that using current technology could lead us out of the impending darkness.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Future is Now: Solving the Climate Crisis with Today’s Technologies, by Bob McDonald (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2022) $23 / 9780735241961
2024 donors to the British Columbia Review, a thank you from Richard Mackie.
“The enduring image provided by Manthorpe – one that bookends On Canadian Democracy – is the comparison of the state of Canada to that of the official home of its Prime Minister. The reader is brought to ponder the neglected crumbling façade of 24 Sussex, overgrown by weeds, infused with mould, and seemingly abandoned by its caretakers.” Matthew Downey reviews On Canadian Democracy by Jonathan Manthorpe (Toronto: Cormorant Press, 2024) $19.95 / 9781770867543