BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
In 1857, the French Roman Catholic religious order, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, began permanent missionary work among the Native peoples of British Columbia. The memoirs of Father Nicolas Coccola, a Corsican-born Oblate who arrived in the province in 1880, reveal the complexity of the work carried out by the ordinary missionary priests.
Margaret Whitehead is a professor in the History Department at the University of Victoria.
Recommended to anyone interested in the history of the Roman Catholic church's missionary activities in British Columbia or in the cultural changes experienced by the native people around the turn of the century.
Diligent research provides some stimulating reflections on what the great Belgian priest Pierre Charles called missiology, and Whitehead's comparison of Jesuit mission methodology in the Pacific Northwest with that of the Oblates is of special interest.
These recollections provide a basis for comparison of the ordinary and the exceptional pioneer Oblate missionary.