Blog

Nothing much besides Rick Steves, Lonely Planet guides and French train timetables.

That's right, I'm off to see the world. As a result, not much posting here for a few weeks.

À toute à l'heure...

Here are two not-very-good photos of the Reconciliation Walk in downtown Vancouver yesterday.

The heavy rain did little to dampen the spirits of any of the people I saw. The CBC estimates 10,000 marchers; the...

The folks at ActiveHistory.ca have posted a podcast of a roundtable that took place in Victoria back in June. The Canadian Historical Association and the Canadian Political Science Association brought together a dozen academics from both disciplines to discuss "History Under Harper", i.e. the present government's attempts to manipulate what one participant called "the new symbolics of Canada."

I'm probably not spoiling anything by telling you that...

Last week the post brought two new "political" books from the Vancouver publisher, New Star Books.

One is a revised edition of Mark Leier's "life and times" of the fascinating labour activist and spy, Robert Gosden. First published in 1999, this new edition of Rebel Life contains additional information about Gosden, an enigmatic figure in the history of the labour movement. Mark teaches history at Simon Fraser U and his chapter "On the Trail of a Labour Spy" offers a...

I missed this when it was announced.

The Vancouver-based online "newspaper" The Tyee and the history department at Simon Fraser U. have sponsored a new writing prize in honour of the late SFU historian Michael Fellman.

The prize is for an essay "that demonstrates bold thought, clear analysis, and rests on well researched historical understanding."

Details are here.