The story of Burrard Inlet is also the story of Greater Vancouver, the third largest port in North America and one of the most beautiful cities in the world. This engaging history traces the development of the area from the First Nations settlements dating back thousands of years, to the early European explorers and developers (and tree-huggers!), to the modern-day metropolis that surrounds the inlet.

Meet John Morton, who arrived in the dense forests of what is now downtown Vancouver and, with two other men, purchased the 500 acres stretching from Stanley Park to Burrard Street - and got dubbed the Three Greenhorns for wasting their money on useless land. Shake hands with entrepreneurs like Gassy Jack, the saloonkeeper for whom Gastown was named. Revisit the many squatters' settlements that have come and gone around the inlet for hundreds of years and been home to hundreds of people, including the writer Malcolm Lowry. And relive the Great Explosion of March 6, 1945, when a ship at Burrard Dry Dock exploded, killing eight men and showering Vancouver with its cargo of pickles.

The book is both a carefully researched history and an entertaining account of the full range of vigorous human activity that helped shape a busy, beautiful waterway and one of the world's great cities. It was shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award in 2002.