The Beaver Hills Country

A History of Land and Life

By Graham A. MacDonald
Publisher: Athabasca University Press
Ebook (Kindle) : 9781771990882, 264 pages, August 2009
Paperback : 9781897425374, 190 pages, August 2009
Ebook (PDF) : 9781897425381, 264 pages, August 2009

Table of contents

Introduction On the Name Beaver Hills
Chapter 1: The Character of the Beaver Hills
Chapter 2: Ancient Ways Between Two Rivers
Chapter 3: Traders, Horses, and Bison, 1730-1870
Chapter 4: Visions of the Promised Land, 1870-1905
Chapter 5: Conservation, Communities and Egalitarianism, 1905-1930
Chapter 6: Hard Times and Good Times, 1930-1950
Chapter 7: Postwar Urbanism

Notes
Bibliography
Image Sources
Index

Description

This book explores a relatively small but interesting and unusual region of Alberta between the North Saskatchewan and the Battle Rivers. The Beaver Hills arose where mountain glaciers from the west met continental ice-sheets from the east to create a complex and diverse landscape. MacDonald relates how climate, water levels, wildlife, vegetation, and fire have shaped the possibilities and provided the challenges to the people who have called the region home.

Reviews

"This book is well written and incorporates a variety of pictures, graphs, and maps, which add a great deal to the narrative. MacDonald’s strength is his ability to create an accessible narrative that flows easily from section to section and story to story. ... MacDonald's The Beaver Hills Country: A History of Land and Life will be of interest to anyone who has ever spent any time in the region, and to those who would like to better understand the complex interactions between humans and the natural world along Canada's prairie parkland."

- Peter Fortna