“This expertly curated and well-composed book intends to rectify Wakayama’s relative obscurity. He is both the subject of Enemy Alien and, to a large extent, its author.” Philip Huynh reviews Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama, by Paul Wong (ed.) (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2025) $40 / 9781773272801
“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
“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
“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
“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
“Many of the 19 stories, packed with Fraser’s fact-filled remembrances, deal with disasters and tragedies. He was the reporter the editors on the assignment desk in Edmonton or Toronto would call if they needed a reliable and ‘objective’ journalist to fly to the trouble zone on short notice.” Ron Verzuh reviews From Ragged Ass Road to Rideau Hall: Stories of Canada, by Whit Fraser (Madeira Park: Douglas and McIntyre, 2026) $26.95 / 9781771624695
“Although the convention attracted its fair share of critics at the time, situating it in the context of what came before and after suggests it was not a write-off but an effective strategy (at least in theory) for mobilizing confederation supporters and keeping the colonial government on alert.” Sam Kiiskila, recent UVic graduate, contributes the historical essay “A ‘Lover of Beauty’ on his way to Yale”: Revisiting the 1868 Yale Convention
“1866 was the year he founded the American SPCA, based on the model of the Royal SPCA in London. He was 53 years old and up until a few years before he had not been particularly interested in animals. Then while in St. Petersburg, Russia he saw a driver mistreating a horse and had a revelation: animals would be his life’s work.” Sheldon Goldfarb reviews The Second Greatest Show on Earth: Henry Bergh, the Protection of Animals, and the Evolution of the Modern Social Movement, by Darcy Ingram (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2025) $34.95 / 9780228025801
“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
“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
“On Sunday, the 22nd, we were relaxing and having breakfast outside after a successful day previous in presenting my Tai Chi talk and demo (there’s an irony!), when we heard some anxious buzz from folks in the building that something was going on. At almost same moment, we saw clouds of heavy dark smoke drifting in just past our building and the big shade tree behind us, as if a house or store was on fire nearby.” Author and poet Trevor Carolan reports from Puerto Vallarta on his recent experience.
“As the discussion heats up, one begins to feel like a dinner party guest privileged to listen in on a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation between two expert criminologists.” Richard Fyfe reviews Troubling Criminology, by Michael C. K. Ma and Mike Larsen (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2025) $34.95 / 9781771136853
“Scanlan doesn’t talk about union-negotiated pension plans or union-sponsored retirement planning workshops. I was fortunate to have both. Our retirees’ handbook provided many of the same pointers and it was free. In addition, an employer-paid retirement expert was always available to assist if the going got complicated. I was lucky. For retirees who didn’t have a union, How to Retire is an excellent guide.” Ron Verzuh reviews How to Retire: Retire Knowing You Can Enjoy Every Day, by Steven Scanlan (Chemainus: self-published, 2025) $17.99 / 9781989681336
“Daphne Sleigh has made a good effort in addressing the Indigenous past of the region in this updated version of her book. Her preface not only expresses her delight in seeing her local history book having a new lease, but it also includes, and notes, changes in how Indigenous names are perceived since 1990 when the original book was self-published.” Trevor Marc Hughes reviews The People of the Harrison, by Daphne Sleigh (Harrison Mills: Fraser Heritage Society, 2021) (1st printing 1990) $24.95 / 9780973538519
“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
“These stories of resistance need to be shared to help understand the breadth of depravity of fascism and its impact that can evolve under unchecked hate and power. Rather than “fascism” being an abstract word or slogan, it becomes visceral when told as a story using sequential art.” David Lester writes an essay telling of how, “as the creeping noose of modern-day fascism encircles us, I found myself drawing a story from 80 years ago.” Partisans: A Graphic History of Anti-Fascist Resistance, by Raymond Tyler & Paul Buhle (eds.) (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2025) $34.95 / 9781771136525