Catherine Ford

Perhaps I'm biased, being a Calgarian myself, and this is a slightly pro-Calgary book, but I really enjoyed it. I moved to Alberta as a teenager, so missed out on most of the elementary-school local history stuff, and it was high time I learned a thing or two about my adopted home. And it's written from a liberal viewpoint (yes, there is such a creature as a Alberta liberal)!

The book has a very conversational tone: it's like taking a long walk with an old family friend who knows what the story is - and the backstory, too. It's not a series of rigorously structured essays, rather more free-flowing, but in a very enjoyable way. I would recommend this book to all of my fellow Albertans.… (mais)

I am an Albertan myself, and so I was looking forward to finally reading a book about Alberta and Albertans, written by an Albertan. I should have saved my money - the book is a disappointment. It's not that Ford writes poorly - quite the contrary. She spins tales that seem to flow almost too effortlessly, so that the book feels almost stream of consciousness. I struggled to determine what was the guiding theme for this book, which jumped from Calgary, to the importance of oil, to Banff, to the railway, to Aboriginals, to Edmonton, to sports teams, to Red Deer... I suppose it's loosely looking at each city or region, but each chapter wanders from topic to topic like an ADD bunny that the unifying thread is quickly lost. In addition, the author's clear and unapologetic bias towards Calgary is unforgivable to an Edmontonian such as myself.… (mais)