This is the only place in the world to which more than a million immigrants were herded in a single decade … No provision of any importance was made by any government to house, feed, succour, clothe or support them … Whether they lived in the cities, towns or on homesteads, their survival required that they help one another … With such ancestors, it is no accident that Prairie people have long been leaders of movements for social reform, because social reform is only a high-blown synonym for helping one another.
— James Gray, 1974
James Gray had just taken a break from in Calgary back to Winnipeg, where he had grown up. He was going to receive an honorary degree from the University of Manitoba, having published five books of western history in eight years and written himself into the hearts of readers right across the country. His sixth would come out within the year. This would be remarkable for...
J. Edward Chamberlin has retired from the University of Toronto, where he was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature. His books include If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories and Hore: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations, both published by Vintage in 2004 and 2007 respectively.
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