Harry Marriott was a cowboy-rancher from 1912, when he arrived at the Gang Ranch after a 100-mile journey by freight wagon, through to the 1950s. He adhered to a homespun philosophy of perseverance, a code that helped him overcome adversities of all kinds, from devastating summer droughts to numbing -60°F spells in winter.

In colourful, down-home …

These eight true tales explore the dark side of 20th-century prairie history. A Saskatchewan farmhouse is burned to the ground to conceal the brutal murders of a family of seven. A German prisoner-of-war camp in Medicine Hat is the scene of savage Nazi killings. A convicted killer is given a day pass out of prison for his birthday, only to escape a …

Technically it was a minor league, but for hockey fans west of the Mississippi, the Western Hockey League provided major-league entertainment for over 25 years.

The WHL was a determined and ambitious professional league, with some 22 teams based in major American and Canadian cities. Known as the Pacific Coast Hockey League prior to 1952, the WHL a …

This book depicts the west coast of British Columbia in all its glory. The distinctive peeling bark on the trunk of an arbutus tree. Towering Sitka spruce trees. Migrating sandpipers in Clayoquot Sound. A grizzly bear feeding on pink salmon near Knight Inlet Lodge. Author/photographer Chris Cheadle walked the streams of the rainforests, kayaked to …

Peppered with lively stories, literary references and pithy observations on the emerging culture and future development of the Dominion of Canada, this 19th-century travelogue is a remarkable and authentic slice of history. In these accounts of his travels in North America, Alexander Staveley Hill weaves together details of Canadian and American h …

The bond between cats and their people comes to the fore in these charming true stories. Cinders shows her young owner that she is more than her fears and insecurities. Mr. Morris' love of people makes him a winner as a therapy cat. A stray named Kitty finds a new owner and gives him a reason to live. Poignant and heartwarming, these stories will b …

Shortlisted for the 2009 George Ryga Award.

This is the story of an average family that has never been the same . . . since its eldest child was swarmed and killed by her peers on a moonlit night, November 14, 1997 . . . It is the story of what sudden and horrific violence can do to a family, and how a family somehow remains intact in the face of …

This is the story of how the first beaver came to be. It tells of a young girl, Reedee, who is born with hair the colour of Mother Earth, not the colour of Raven like the rest of her people. It isn't just her hair that sets Reedee apart: at night, when everyone else sleeps, Reedee disappears into the forest. Her parents are dismayed, but when they …

Bravo to the New Westminster Museum and Archives for their groundbreaking research into the history of Yi Fao, and for their understanding that these records of the past will remain as a living contribution to enrich and strengthen our collective heritage. —Wayson Choy

This is the fascinating history of Yi Fao—the Chinese name for New Westmins …

Now in its 7th printing!

Discover more than 200 birds species in Birds of Southwestern BC. This guide covers the Lower Mainland, including Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Fraser Canyon, Manning Park and Whistler; the mid-coast as far north as Bella Coola; Vancouver Island; the Gulf Islands; and the Sunshine Coast. Aimed at beginning and interm …

This book guides readers to the many places in British Columbia, Washington and Alaska where totem poles can be found and helps viewers understand the "language" of the poles.

Learn about their origin and history, the symbols and ceremonies linked to them, types of figures and how to identify them, and where to see authentic poles and pole collect …

This is a delightful collection of tales by authors from British Columbia's rugged Cariboo-Chilcotin region, and a few "outsiders."

Joining well-known Cariboo favourites Rich Hobson, Paul St. Pierre and Eric Collier are Barry Broadfoot and his touching tribute to Cariboo legend Fred Lindsay; historian/journalist Bruce Ramsey and his description of …

How the city reporters of the 1950s must have loved Major Matthews. Eminently quotable, forthright and provocative in speech . . . his mere presence at any discussion of a contentious nature would be enough to ensure a wealth of good copy, and a strong, catchy headline as well.

So writes Daphne Sleigh in her compelling biography of controversial ar …

These are the stories of more than 50 relics of the West Kootenay. Arrowhead, Beaton and Needles are among the towns that were drowned. Waneta is a power dam; Jersey City was auctioned. Comaplix died one fiery night; Cody, Three Forks, Poplar, Waterloo, Goldfields, Gerrard, Brooklyn, Cascade and a host of others vanished. Leaning headboards in smot …

The West was a lawless domain when Jerry Potts was born into the Upper Missouri fur trade in 1838. The son of a Scottish father and a Blood mother, he was given the name Bear Child by his Blood tribe for his bravery and tenacity while he was still a teen. In 1874, when the North West Mounted Police first marched west and sat lost and starving near …

Simply the Best delivers rare insights on success straight from the hearts and minds of winning coaches Scotty Bowman, Marc Crawford, Jacques Demers, Clare Drake, Ken Hitchcock, Mike Keenan, Dave King, George Kingston, Andy Murray, Rodger Neilson, Pat Quinn and Brian Sutter. These world-renowned hockey visionaries, recognized as some of the greates …

An informative sidekick to Stan Shadick's annual award-winning Skywatchers calendars, Skywatcher's Companion presents fascinating stories for skywatchers of all ages.

Discover the wonders of the night sky and learn how to find the star patterns that have inspired the myths and storytelling of great cultures of the past. Meet the gods and goddesses …

Best known for his original series of Arthurian novels, A Dream of Eagles (called The Camulod Chronicles in the US), and his more recent Knights Templar trilogy, Jack Whyte has authored 10 international bestsellers in the past 15 years. Jack's imagination and his passion for observing human nature shine through in both his prose and his verse in th …

In the summer of 1984, Anthony Dalton embarked on a near-fatal voyage in a small open boat along the wild northwest coast of Alaska, attempting a solo transit of the Northwest Passage. His sea quest ran parallel to an arduous relief expedition undertaken in 1897-98, when the officers of the US cutter Bear set out to reach eight whaling ships that w …

Slumach's Gold chronicles what is possibly Canada's greatest lost-mine story. It searches out the truth behind a Salish man's hanging for murder in 1891 and tracks the intriguing legend about him that grew after his death. It was a legend that turned into a drama of international fascination when Slumach—the hanged criminal—was mysteriously li …

Experience Alberta's heritage and the outdoors in Country Roads of Alberta, an intriguing photographic guidebook that takes you to places off the beaten track.

Alberta's scenery is as diverse as its topography. Fringed along its western edge by high mountains, the land descends through foothills to stretch into undulating plains sculpted by ancient …

Winner of the Aboriginal Children's Book of the Year Award, 2006 Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Festival and Book Awards

Kayâs is a young Cree man who is blessed with a Gift that makes him a talented hunter. He knows the ways of the Beings he hunts and can even talk with them in their own languages. But when he becomes proud and takes his abilities …

The story of the Northwest Rebellion is synonymous with Métis leader Louis Riel, whose allies joined together in 1885 to face the military forces of the Canadian government, engaging in a civil war on the Canadian Prairies. A lesser-known element of the story is the gripping tale of river warfare along the banks of rivers in Saskatchewan, Alberta …

The many lost communities of British Columbia's Boundary country, which stretches from Osoyoos east to the Kootnays, are reborn with the help of 150 photographs, a dozen maps and a factual and entertaining text. Garnet Basque interviewed old-timers and scoured newspaper archives to create these entertaining accounts.

The Heart of the Cariboo-Chilcotin anthology celebrates this beautiful and remote region of British Columbia. From the days of the gold rush through to modern times, the stories in this collection capture the spirit of a place whose beauty and wildness have inspired its people throughout its history. Legendary tales include:

• a husband's promis …

A historian and a naturalist team up to bring the hidden history of Alberta's agricultural heartland to life in 14 guided road trips. Mile by mile you'll be introduced to plants and wildlife, geological formations and anomalies, and many other nooks and niches of central Alberta, including picnic spots, museums and restaurants.

The indomitable spirit of Bert Irvine is at the heart of Nechako Country, a story that provides a glimpse into a simpler world in simpler times. After Bert moved his young family from Barrhead in northwestern Alberta to Vanderhoof in central British Columbia, the upper Nechako country and Nechako River became integral parts of their lives. Bert's l …

In Philip Timms' Vancouver, the city's "golden age" has been captured with spirit and style by one of British Columbia's foremost photographers. Philip Timms was a man of many accomplishments, but one of the most notable was his photographic record of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, created between 1900 and 1910. As Vancouver evolved from a colo …

One hundred years ago, a shy bank clerk sent a collection of his poems south from the Yukon to be privately published and shared with a small group of friends. Fate intervened, however, and Robert Service, Sam McGee and Dan McGrew became household names across North America and throughout the British Commonwealth.

Service spent the decade prior to …

During the 1980s, the geography of minor-league professional hockey changed radically, moving from its roots in the Canadian Maritime provinces, New England and the Midwestern states into the American south. In addition to cities like Dallas, Charlotte, Norfolk and Oklahoma City, which had long traditions of minor-league hockey, unlikely places suc …

Influenza epidemics are mentioned in the news almost daily, and often so is the word "deadly." Experts say it's only a matter of time before a virus mutates so that it can spread effortlessly from person to person. Fifty million people died of the Spanish flu in 1918; in this age of global travel, the next pandemic could be far worse.

The recommend …

The sparsely populated southern Interior of British Columbia was rich in resources and ripe for settlement in the late 1800s. The agricultural lands of the Okanagan and Nicola valleys, and the precious metals and coal of the Kootenays, lay largely unused or undiscovered: the challenges was getting to these places.

Transportation was the key that o …

Highway 97 winds its way from the high desert plains of northern California to the Yukon-British Columbia border, making it North America's longest north-south road. Author Jim Couper takes you on a spectacular guided tour from one end of this unsung highway to the other, mixing historical anecdotes with information on colourful local events and mu …

Ranching with Lords & Commons, originally published in 1903, tells the fascinating story of Alberta's famous Oxley Ranch from the perspective of John R. Craig, Oxley's former manager. Craig's passion and knowledge shine through in this overview of what the cattle business was really like when ranching got underway in the late 1800s. In writing abo …

Leechtown, Wellington, Bevan, Kildonan, Fort Rupert, Cape Scott . . .Vancouver Island's ghost towns dot the Island from its southern end to its northern tip, and their stories chart the boom and bust of the resource economy that still characterizes the region.

Well illustrated with maps and an abundance of photos, archival and modern, Ghost Towns & …

Pachyrhinosaurus follows two separate stories: the discovery of Pachyrhinosaurus fossils at Pipestone Creek in northwestern Alberta, and the story of a single Pachyrhinosaurus herd and the events that led to its abrupt demise 76 million years ago. Each story is compellingly told and accompanied by dynamic illustrations and photographs.

Pachyrhinosa …

Hughina Harold paints a powerful picture of a world that no longer exists in this compelling account of her experiences as a young teacher and nurse on the remote Broughton Archipelago on British Columbia's coast in the 1930s. Fresh from nursing school in Victoria and eager to start work, Harold could not have imagined the challenges that awaited h …

The modern era of professional hockey began in 1979 when the Edmonton Oilers became an NHL team. Over the next decade the team set the standard for successful, exciting hockey, dominating the league, winning five Stanley Cups in seven seasons, and producing some of the greatest players in the history of the sport - Gretzkey, Messier, Fuhr and Coffe …

The promise of fast money and good times attracted some of America's most legendary personalities to the mines, gambling dens and bordellos of early Colorado. It was a world of famous gunslingers, slick con men, expert gamblers and high-class madams. This is a great collection of shoot-em-up, knock-em-down stories about how the west was wild.

Going Top Shelf brings together for the first time in one collection some of Canada's best hockey poems and song lyrics. Included are works by such outstanding Canadian poets as Michael Ondaatje, Al Purdy, Margaret Avison, Don Gutteridge and Lorna Crozier. And for music lovers with a taste for contemporary Canadian music, this entertaining collecti …

Franz (Frank) Oberle was nine years old when his family was relocated from Germany to Poland. Once there, he was taken from his parents to an isolated school where adolescents were being indoctrinated into the Hitler Youth. As the tide of war changed, he became a refugee fleeing the Russian advance, arriving in Dresden as the city became the target …

Beautiful, translucent and indestructible, jade has a mystique that's captivated people since Neolithic times. Stan Leaming, Canada's leading jade geologist, was fascinated by this unusual gem; he is credited with pioneering the emergence of the jade industry in British Columbia. Leaming shares his unique insight into the science and magic of jade …

In A Chosen Path, Frank Oberle continues the amazing story of his remarkable rise from self-educated immigrant to national politician and Cabinet minister.

The bestselling first volume of Frank's autobiography, Finding Home, recounted his turbulent youth in Nazi-run Germany and his post-war immigration to Canada. After working for a year and a half …

Liz Bryan reconstructs the lives of some of the very first Canadians, who lived as nomadic buffalo hunters between the final days of the great Ice Age and the coming of the first Europeans. Bryan went beyond the part of their story that can be told through oral history, taking clues from decades of archaeological research.

In a writing style that …