About BC Books Online
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."
Description
Between 1965 and 1975, thousands of American migrants traded their established lives for a new beginning in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. Some were non-violent resisters who opposed the war in Vietnam. But a larger group was inspired by the ideals of the 1960s counterculture and the New Left and, hoping to flee the restrictive demands of their parents’ world and the pressures of city life, they set out to build a peaceful, egalitarian society in the Canadian wilderness.
Even today, their success is evident, as values like equality, sustainability, and creativity still define community life. This fascinating history draws on interviews and archival records to explore the root causes of this bold migration and its role in creating a region that continues to be a hotbed of social and environmental experimentation. Welcome to Resisterville is both an important look at an untold chapter in Canadian history and a compelling story of enduring idealism.
Contributor Notes
Kathleen Rodgers is an assistant professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Ottawa.
Editorial Reviews
Kathleen Rodgers’s sociological study of the impact of American Vietnam-era exiles on the creation of a countercultural haven in the West Kootenay Valley is a fascinating account of modern immigration history...Rodgers’s study provides future scholars with a rich and complex body of material to better understand a whole range of changes to Canadian society that ensued in the aftermath of yet another American invasion.
— British Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol. 29 No. 2, Fall 2016
Deftly combining interviews, local newspaper reports, and archival and personal documents, Welcome to Resisterville is an exciting, original book that will appeal to a broad audience. It tells the intriguing story of the migration of American war resisters to BC, the welcome they received, and the vibrant counterculture that they helped form.
— Jim Conley, co-editor of Car Troubles: Critical Studies of Automobility and Auto-mobility
