National Network for Equitable Library Service

With all the attention to creationism in the news these days, Jean-Pierre Rogel decided it was time to show how Darwin's concept of natural selection can be seen in everyday situations — from a summer cottage near a lake — with examples taken from familiar species such as loons, salmon and bears. Moving through modern science, he shows how new discoveries have enabled us to understand life more deeply than in Darwin's time. He focuses in particular on the emerging field of evolutionary developmental biology, called “evo-devo” for short.

A comprehensive account of Clayoquot Sound and the protest movement: rainforest ecosystems; the April 1993 land-use decision; co-opted forestry science; the Peace Camp and the Blockades; civil disobedience; the police, the courts and the corporations; environmental rights; ongoing logging violations in 1994 (with photos). Six of BC’s foremost environmentalists — including Tzeporah Berman and Chris Hatch — offer well-documented essays that illuminate the issues behind the Clayoquot protests of 1993.

Louis Riel, prophet of the new world and founder of the Canadian province of Manitoba, has challenged Canadian politics, history and religion since the early years of Confederation. In Canada’s most important and controversial state trial, Riel was found guilty of “high treason,” sentenced to hang and executed on November 16, 1885.

Captain Richards' journal is an account of three survey seasons on Vancouver Island aboard two British Navy ships, the HMS Plumper and the HMS Hecate. Between 1860 and 1862 Richards and his dedicated crew surveyed and charted the entire coastline of Vancouver Island, creating baseline information for the nautical charts we use today.This monumental task, faithfully and often humorously recorded, also includes a lively description of California on the eve of the American Civil War as Richards sits in dry dock following the near wreck of the Hecate.

For his third volume about BC literary history, Alan Twigg traces the writings of David Thompson, Alexander Mackenzie, Simon Fraser and thirty of their peers, mainly Scotsmen, who founded and managed more than fifty forts west of the Rockies prior to 1850. After the failure of Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser to find a navigable route to the Pacific Ocean, it was the remarkable mapmaker, David Thompson, who was instrumental in creating the "highway" for commerce that connected both sides of the North American continent.

This comprehensive history of the left in British Columbia from the late nineteenth century to the present explores the successes and failures of individuals and organizations striving to make a better world. Nineteenth-century coal miners and carpenters; Wobblies, Single Taxers, and communists; worker militancy in two world wars; the New Democratic Party; the Squamish Five; the Solidarity movement of 1983; and the Occupy movement of 2011 are all part of an historical provincial left that is notable for its breadth and dynamism.

This fascinating history of alcohol consumption in British Columbia focuses on two periods of harsh liquor prohibitions: first on its Native population from 1854 to 1962, and second, on the entire population, during the 1917 to 1921 period. Using formerly closed police files, Douglas Hamilton traces the scandals, corruption and crime that resulted from the implementation of prohibition. Includes archival photos.

For over a quarter century, many readers have agreed with legendary publisher Jack McClelland, who said, “I have never before encountered a book journal as engaging as BC BookWorld.” But over several decades, the populist style of BC BookWorld has tended to overshadow its literary value and its essentially educational agenda. Here in The Best of BC BookWorld is a sampling of articles that entertain, enlighten, educate and provoke. About half are by Alan Twigg, who has written the majority of the newspaper since its inception in 1987.

To some extent, everyone plays with language and uses it as a form of recreation as well as a means of communication. Recognizing that the creation of true wit is a subjective endeavour, Richler suggests that the commission of language wit occurs not only wittingly, but also unwittingly and sometimes even half-wittedly.

Canada's ceramists, tapestry weavers, and other craft artists are recognized amongst the world's finest artisans. Craft Perception and Practice celebrates the excellence of Canadian crafts by bringing together twenty-four essays and critical commentaries by sixteen independent critics and curators, professional artists, art historians, and studio art instructors.