Now what shall I tell you first? The days...have been so full of interests and fresh things that I know not where to begin. Suppose I say right here that I believe I shall be very happy here and also that it seems a post I can fit and having said that I'll just write consecutively to give you as good an idea as possible of how we are placed. -- Margaret Butcher, September 4, 1916

From 1916 to 1919, Margaret Butcher served as a missionary nurse and teacher at the Elizabeth Long Memorial Home, a residential school in Kitamaat, British Columbia. The Letters of Margaret Butcher:...

A Voice of Her Own profiles fifty-two ranch women from Western Canada. With this book, the editors have brought to light a little-discussed aspect of ranching: the valuable contributions of women in an industry traditionally thought of as the domain of men. These women range in age from their teens to their nineties, and across three provinces, but they have in common a deep commitment to the land, to their families and communities, and to the ranching way of life. To them, the ranch means many things; it is a business, a home, and a place to raise their children. In their own words, they...

The story of the individual always grips us - it is why biography remains so popular. But in Medicine and Duty we receive a double serving: the story of Medical Officer Captain Harold W. McGill coupled with the story of the many men who served in the 31st Battalion and what they together managed to achieve against such long odds.- - Patrick Brennan, Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary

Medicine and Duty is the World War I memoir of Harold McGill, a medical officer in the 31st (Alberta) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. McGill attempted to have his...

Zhorna- is the Ukrainian word for a stone mill that was used to grind grain into flour. The zhorna stands as the perfect symbol for the Ukrainian-Canadian pioneers who settled in western Canada. The patience, strength, and tenacity required to transform rough grains into fine flour are exactly the characteristics with which these pioneers approached their life and work.

Zhorna: Material Culture of the Ukrainian Pioneers celebrates the material culture of Ukrainian settlers in western Canada: their folk architecture, household items, and tools they used to make their living. While at...

Behind the Man: John Laurie, Ruth Gorman, and the Indian Vote in Canada is the unique -biography- of Alberta political figure John Lee Laurie, a key proponent of Aboriginal rights in the 1940s and 1950s. Before 1961, the Aboriginal people of Canada could only vote in federal elections if they agreed to become -Canadian, - that is, to leave their reserves, give up their treaty rights, and leave behind their homes, farms, and families. Laurie was instrumental in securing amendments to the Indian Act in 1961 which gave Aboriginals the unfettered vote.

Ruth Gorman worked tirelessly...

Her story adds to the growing literature related to individual life stories of Holocaust survivors. There is much we can learn from her book.- - Benjamin Schlesinger, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto

Until age seven, Olga Barsony Verrall lived an idyllic life in Szarvas, a small town in Hungary, surrounded by her doting, observant Jewish family. After the Nazi invasion in 1944, Olga found herself, along with most of her family, interned in the Auspitz (Hustopece) labour camp. Eventually reunited after the war, the family returned to Szarvas, only to face a different kind of...

More than any other book that I can think of, Bronze Inside and Out puts a human face on Western art - indeed, all art. It invites us to ponder the very nature of the creative process.- - From the foreword by Brian W. Dippie, University of Victoria

Bronze Inside and Out: A Biographical Memoir of Bob Scriver is a literary biography of sculptor Bob Scriver, written by his wife, Mary Strachan Scriver. Bob Scriver is best known for his work in bronze and for his pivotal role in the rise of -cowboy art.- Living and working on the Montana Blackfeet Reservation, Scriver created a bronze...

Marshall's] work in responding to the challenge of exploring a little-known life should be an inspiration to other students of history ... people across Canada will find it a pleasant way to become better acquainted with an attractive, interesting and unfamiliar contributor to our history.- - Desmond Morton, McGill University

Give Your Other Vote to the Sister tells the story of Roberta MacAdams, the first woman elected to the Alberta legislature. In fact, she was one of the first two women elected to a legislature anywhere in the British Empire. Her triumph was extraordinary for...

Using valuable primary source material, most of which is previously unpublished, and some of which has been translated from the Flemish-Dutch and French, editors Mary Eggermont-Molenaar and Paul Callens introduce the Van Tighem brothers to today's reader.

Missionaries Among Miners, Migrants, and Blackfoot: The Vantighem Brothers Diaries, Alberta 1875-1917, contains the transcribed diaries of brothers Leonard and Victor Van Tighem, Belgian Catholic missionaries in Alberta between 1874 and 1917. Leonard, an Oblate priest, served in a number of parishes in southern Alberta, some of...

During a career that spans nearly fifty years, Mike Apsey has seen first-hand the complexities of the forest, in settings ranging from jungle villages and the global forest to corporate and government offices throughout the world. With the perspective of someone who has served on all sides of the issues, Apsey is in a unique position to offer timely recommendations for a system of forest governance and to suggest a new approach to developing forest policy. What's All This Got to Do with the Price of 2x4's? is an insider's account that gives readers new background on the competing tensions of...