Surveying the Great Divide: The Alberta/BC Boundary Survey, 1913-1917 by Jay Sherwood Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2017 $29.95 / 9781987915525 Reviewed by Robert Allen First published Feb. 25, 2018 * Retired teacher-librarian at Vanderhoof and past president of the Nechako Valley Historical Society, Jay Sherwood has provided nine indispensable – and overdue — histories and…
Read more #253 The divide of mountains and wine
First published Feb. 24, 2018. Lace Up: A History of Skates in Canada by Jean-Marie Leduc, with Sean Graham & Julie Leger Victoria: Heritage House Publishing Company, 2017. $19.95 / 9781772032277 Reviewed by David Mills * A photo near the start of Lace-Up: A History of Skates in Canada will be familiar to many Canadians….
Read more #252 We came, we saw, we skated
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Random House Canada), 2018 $34.95 / 9780345816023 Reviewed by Ron Dart First published Feb. 23, 2018 * Controversial University of Toronto psychologist and cultural critic Jordan Peterson, condemned by Maclean’s as “the stupid man’s smart person,” has spoken to…
Read more #251 The stupid man’s smart person?
First published Feb. 22, 2018. The Campbell Revolution? Power, Politics, and Policy in British Columbia J.R. (Jason) Lacharite and Tracy Summerville (editors) Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2017. $34.95 / 9780773551039 Reviewed by Hamish Telford Duplicitous in terms of his First Nations policies, Gordon Campbell was likewise self-serving when it came to the arts;…
Read more #250 Gordon Campbell, a reckoning
Binning House by Matthew Soules (text) and Michael Perlmutter (photography) Novato, California: ORO Editions, 2017 UBC SALA/West Coast Modern House Series $24.95 (U.S.) / 9871939621665 Reviewed by Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe First published Feb. 19, 2018 * Architecture critic Adele Weder is now trying to preserve the much-admired house that was built and designed by Bert Binning…
Read more #249 West Vancouver modern
Journey to Kaho’olaweby Hans Winkler and Cease Wyss (T’uy’t’tanat) Vancouver: Grunt Gallery, 2017$20.00 / 9781988708027 Reviewed by Chris Arnett First published Feb. 13, 2018 * Stories of BC-Hawaiian connections have a certain allure to those of us in the temperate rainforest in that by some past association we may have something in common – and…
Read more #248 Kaho’olawe; 8th Hawaiian island
Vertical Horizons: The History of Okanagan Helicopters by Douglas M. Grant Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2017 $39.95 / 9781550178135 Reviewed by Wayne Wilson First published Feb. 12, 2018 * Helicopters have been and remain a romantic and unlikely marriage of technology and human aspiration; and it is really only in the last few decades that…
Read more #247 High risks, high expectations
The heroism of the outsider: Alan Twigg interviews Ernest Hekkanen and Margrith Schraner First published February 11, 2018 * Novelist Bill Gaston once dubbed Ernest Hekkanen Canadian literature’s “most resolute maverick.” For twenty years he and his long-time partner Margrith Schraner resolutely published a lively and sophisticated literary periodical, New Orphic Review, without any government…
Read more #246 The heroism of the outsider
First published Feb. 9, 2018. The tradition of printers supporting the literary arts is a very long one. Before there were trade publishing companies in British Columbia, the two major progenitors for books made in the province were Morriss Printing in Victoria and Mitchell Press in Vancouver. Mitchell Press still exists, although their headquarters is…
Read more #245 Publish and cherish
Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction by Travis Lupick Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017 $24.95 / 9781551527123 Reviewed by Danya Fast First published Feb. 4, 2018 * Locally and globally, Vancouver is celebrated for its world-class harm reduction and social housing programs, and regarded as a…
Read more #244 Downtown Eastside influencers
INTERVIEW: Rachel Rose with mutt maven Stanley Coren April 26, 2018 * Having produced possibly the bestselling non-fiction book about dogs ever written, The Intelligence of Dogs, as well as Why We Love The Dogs We Do, Dr. Stanley Coren has a career that most writers and researchers only dream of; his lectures at UBC routinely…
Read more #243 Going to the dogs with Stanley Coren
First published Feb. 1, 2018. Trailer Park Elegy by Cornelia Hoogland Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2017. $18.95 / 9781550178159 Reviewed by Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes Trailer Park Elegy is not Cornelia Hoogland’s first book-length long poem. Her Woods Wolf Girl (Wolsak & Wynn, 2011), for instance, is a Canadianized, modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood…
Read more #242 A brotherly love revisited
First published Jan. 29, 2018. Whale in the Door: A Community Unites To Protect BC’s Howe Sound by Pauline Le Bel Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2017. $24.95 / 9781987915488 Reviewed by Cherie Thiessen Mink and his sister, Skunk, gave a big potlatch on Gambier Island in Howe Sound. All the animals from around the area…
Read more #241 Howe Sound advice
First published Jan. 26, 2018. Emily Patterson, The Heroic Life of a Milltown Nurse provides a rare portrait of a female life on the West Coast of Canada during the 1800s. It recounts the laudable life of a woman who served as a midwife, nurse and doctor despite her lack of formal medical training. “The…
Read more #240 Go get Emily!!
Red Robinson: The Last Deejay by Robin Brunet Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2016 $29.95 / 9781550177695 Reviewed by Lani Russwurm First published Jan, 25, 2018 From vaudeville to punk rock, entertainment looms larger than it probably should in Vancouver’s history, considering the city’s dinky stature for most of its existence. One reason for this is…
Read more #239 And here’s to you, Mr. Robinson
The unforgettable Major Matthews: A memoir of 1969 by John Pass First published Jan. 23, 2018 * We are pleased to unveil a memoir by the award-winning poet John Pass (born 1947) from the summer of 1969 when he crossed paths with Vancouver’s first archivist, the one and only Major J.S. Matthews, an Imperial bulldog…
Read more #238 Unforgettable Major Matthews
Fernie At War: 1914-1919 by Wayne Norton Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2017 $24.95 / 9781987915495 Reviewed by W. Keith Regular First published January 21, 2018 * Works of history are matters of scale, a broad perspective over extended time (macro), or narrowly focused investigation (micro). In this age of globalism and its repudiation, as the…
Read more #236 Fernie at War
First published Jan. 19, 2018. A Queer Love Story: The Letters of Jane Rule and Rick Bébout by Marilyn R. Schuster (editor) Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017. $39.95 / 9780774835459 Reviewed by Patricia Demers * Reading a collection of letters can be something of a guilty pleasure. Marilyn Schuster’s edition of the letters of Jane Rule…
Read more #235 Dancing on paper
First published Jan. 18, 2018. The Mighty Hughes: From Prairie Lawyer to Western Canada’s Moral Compass by Craig McInnes Victoria: Heritage House, 2017. $32.95 / 9781772032055 Reviewed by John McLaren * In Canada, biographies of appointed public servants are few and far between, compared with those of politicians. These days even judges are the focus…
Read more #234 Ted Hughes, Titan of Fairness
First published Jan. 17, 2018. In the Trump era, George Orwell’s insights resonate profoundly. Stephen Wadhams’ The Orwell Tapes is a collection of memories from those who crossed paths with the complex character who first described Big Brother, thoughtcrime, Newspeak and doublethink. The Orwell Tapes Vancouver: Locarno Press by Stephen Wadhams $18.50 / 9780995994614 *…
Read more #233 The malleable truth