Tending the Tree of Life by Irwin Kahan illustrated by Wendy Winter Published by Wild Sage Press Review by Jessica Bickford $25.00 978-0-9881229-8-7 Tending the Tree of Life is Irwin Kahan’s memoir chronicling his life from growing up on the Saskatchewan prairie, through the second World War, and onto his work trying to improve health care for those suffering from mental illness. I learned so much from Irwin’s story – from the struggles of pioneering while attempting to keep the Jewish faith, to the difficulties of trying to finish high school by correspondence lessons, and even to what it’s like to take LSD (for science, of course). Irwin’s optimism is clear throughout his story.  Despite the obvious hardships he and his family faced, not only with rampant anti-semitism, but simply surviving the harsh farming conditions of the prairies and then the horrors of World War II, Irwin refuses to complain.  He is endlessly focused on the good – his friends and family and the occasions where he felt he was doing good work to help others. I was so interested to learn about Irwin’s work trying to have mental illness, especially schizophrenia, recognized for what it is – an illness,…

Entangled Roots: The Mystery of Peterborough’s Headless Corpse by Bev Lundahl Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing Review by Keith Foster $17.95 ISBN 978-1-927756-31-7 In the early hours of a cold wintery morning in 1894, Hessie Gray was abruptly awakened to find smoke billowing in her Peterborough, ON bedroom. She opened the door to the kitchen. Seeing it was in flames, she broke a window and got her young children out. But her boarder, David Scollie, was still inside. With these few simple facts, Bev Lundahl’s Entangled Roots: The Mystery of Peterborough’s Headless Corpse sets the stage for her quest to determine what happened. An inquiry ruled that the fire was an accident and that Scollie had burned to death in his bed. But almost immediately, questions arose. Scollie’s head appeared to be missing. Had it simply burned away, or had he been decapitated? Rumours spread. Suspicions turned to Hessie. A preliminary hearing was convened. The strongest indictment against Hessie came from her sister, Mary McGregor, who happened to be none other than Lundahl’s great-grandmother. Mary testified that Hessie had threatened Scollie. Suspicion also turned to William McGregor, Lundahl’s great-grandfather. Adding to the mystery is the presence of several Aboriginal…

Back to Batoche by Cheryl Chad Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing Review by Alison Slowski $12.95 ISBN 978-1-927756-20-1 Back to Batoche is a funny, light-hearted story about three kids who travel back in time to Batoche on the eve of the Battle for Batoche, the famous battle between the Riel Resistance and the North West Field Force. This novel sees the great battle from the point of view of the three Dory children who are the main characters of this story, so while the subject matter is serious in nature, it would not fail to keep the young reader in question engaged and amused by the children’s travels and adventures. “A century is only a spoke in the wheel of everlasting time.” – Louis Riel The novel begins by introducing the Dory siblings, Max, Liam, and Kaeleigh, who go on a trip with their grandmother to see Batoche Historic National Park. Upon arrival at the majestic National Park, the three siblings go on a tour of the landmark church and other sites around Batoche, and meet a strange and mysterious Metis fiddler boy by the name of Isidore Pilon . While exploring the old church, the children find an…

Tracks: The Art and Times of Switchman Joe by Joe Varro Published by Hagios Press Review by Keith Foster $25.95 ISBN 978-1-926710-31-0 Don’t be surprised if you hear Joe Varro humming “I’ve been Working on the Railroad.” He knows the tune by heart. In a series of vignettes from his memoirs, he relates some grand stories of his experiences as a switchman in the last glory days of steam engines in Saskatchewan. He started as a labourer in the Regina rail yards at age seventeen, but due to the manpower shortage of World War II, was promoted to switchman the next year. On his first assignment, as a nineteen-year-old greenhorn in 1945, he was in charge of two inexperienced switchmen. The assistant superintendent cautioned him that damaged stock could easily be replaced, but not arms or legs. Varro describes the dangers of his job, and the tragedies that can befall the careless or the unwary. After two fatal accidents in a space of eight weeks, he went home and prayed, realizing he could have been one of them. In 1949, Varro had a near-death experience himself. While crossing a set of tracks in the dark, he tripped, fell forward, and…

Pulpits of the Past: A Record of Closed Lutheran Churches in Saskatchewan – up to 2003 by Lois Knudson Munholland Published by Three West Two South Books Review by Keith Foster $30.00 ISBN 0-9735234-0-9 In Pulpits of the Past, Lois Knudson Munholland shares the joys, sorrows, and hardships of everyday church life in rural Saskatchewan. She covers the full spectrum of births, baptisms, weddings, social events, and deaths as told through the histories of the province’s Lutheran churches that no longer exist. Compiling and documenting the material for this book was a massive undertaking for Knudson Munholland, one that almost became a lifelong project. She notes that, for most of their young lives, her children couldn’t even remember a time when she wasn’t working on this book. All the former churches cited in Pulpits of the Past are located in what is now the province of Saskatchewan. Not only have these churches closed, some of the communities are now ghost towns. Garden Valley Lutheran Church at Instow is just one of many examples. Sometimes services were held in homes until a church could be constructed. Services at Attica were conducted in the school, but only about twice a month. Two…

Thugs, Thieves & Outlaws: Alberta Crime Stories by Ryan Cormier Published by University of Regina Press Review by Keith Foster $19.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-300-4 In the decades before Canada abolished capital punishment, hanging was a popular mode of execution. It was not an efficient method. An executioner mistakenly cut down one man while he was still alive, with his neck grotesquely dislocated. As the young man struggled for breath in front of witnesses for another 12 minutes, prison officials discussed hanging him a second time. In the 40 chapters of Thugs, Thieves & Outlaws: Alberta Crime Stories, author Ryan Cormier describes many grisly crimes and their punishments. He explains that “good people can be fascinated by gruesome things.” A reporter for the Edmonton Journal, Cormier relies heavily on court transcripts, newspaper accounts, and his own notes. While acknowledging that “every crime has at least two sides,” he uses only the official version, the one sanctioned by the courts. Cormier’s book covers crimes in Alberta from 1870 to 2008. Many of the stories are ripped straight from the headlines, such as the murder of four RCMP officers at Mayerthorpe in 2005. Some stories seem beyond belief, like the banker who embezzled millions…

Potash: An Inside Account of Saskatchewan’s Pink Gold by John Burton Published by University of Regina Press Review by Keith Foster $34.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-314-1 When Rita MacNeil sang “Working Man” about “Men of the Deep,” she wasn’t referring to Saskatchewan’s potash miners, but she might just as well have been. Some of these mines are more than 3,000 feet underground, and at that depth, danger lurks. Rather than dealing with the dangers below, John Burton focuses on the threat above ground. He fears that Saskatchewan may lose this precious resource to privatization. The value of potash is reflected in his tantalizing subtitle, Pink Gold. Burton explores the history of potash production in Saskatchewan from its beginning in 1942 to the present. He knows what he’s talking about. As a close associate of NDP Premier Allan Blakeney and a former board member of the Crown-owned Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, he’s in a position to provide the inside scoop. Burton claims that the aggressive potash development policy of Ross Thatcher’s Liberal government brought about a “crisis that almost brought the industry to its knees.” He notes, “There were even suggestions that some ministers and officials would be arrested if they entered the…

One Family’s War: The Wartime Letters of Clarence Bourassa, 1940-1944 (Second Edition) Edited by Rollie Bourassa Published by University of Regina Press Review by Keith Foster $34.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-320-2 One Family’s War: The Wartime Letters of Clarence Bourassa is a book that had to be written, a story that had to be told – and a story important enough to be retold. That’s why the University of Regina Press printed this second edition. The first edition sold out, and no one should be deprived of reading this fascinating first-hand account of a Saskatchewan hero in World War II. The story is told through the wartime letters of Clarence Bourassa, a lad from Lafleche, SK, who enlisted in the South Saskatchewan Regiment, leaving his wife Hazel and two young sons at home. He kept in touch by writing, almost daily, letters home. Clarence recounts both the drudgery and routine of army life, and the horror of combat. He also expresses the loneliness he felt being separated from his family. This 603-page book is supplemented with two dozen black and white photos of Clarence’s family and army life. A highlight of the book is Clarence’s firsthand account of his participation in the…

Settling Saskatchewan by Alan B. Anderson Published by University of Regina Press Review by Keith Foster $39.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-284-7 Who says you can’t judge a book by its cover? The evocative cover of Settling Saskatchewan – a photo of newly arrived immigrants crowding together on a railway siding – effectively conveys the theme of this book. Author Alan Anderson covers the full gamut of ethnic settlement – starting with First Nations people and Métis, to English, French, German, Scandinavian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Asian – from early days to the present. Some immigrant communities are well known, such as the English settlers of Cannington Manor and the Barr Colonists. Others, like the Patagonian Welsh from Argentina, are either unknown or forgotten. Pity. Their stories are worth telling. Many ethnic minorities, such as the Scottish crofters at Saltcoats, Oklahoma Blacks near Maidstone, and Old Colony Mennonites, settled in blocs for security or ethnic cohesiveness. These pockets formed a patchwork pattern throughout the province. Drawing on his research spanning four decades, Anderson packs a lot of very detailed data into his 485-page book. In addition to a list of sources at the end of each chapter, Settling Saskatchewan has endnotes, a bibliography, and…

Métis Soldiers of Saskatchewan: 1914-1953 by Cathy Littlejohn Published by Gabriel Dumont Institute Review by Keith Foster $25.00 ISBN 978-1-926795-10-2 They were there – at Vimy Ridge, Dieppe, Ortona in Italy, and Juno Beach on D-Day. In every major campaign of the First and Second World Wars and in a hundred skirmishes in Korea, Saskatchewan Métis soldiers were there, fighting for Canada. Their exploits are chronicled in Cathy Littlejohn’s Métis Soldiers of Saskatchewan: 1914-1953. Métis were readily accepted into the military because they already knew how to handle firearms and often brought certain skills useful in warfare. Littlejohn tells many of the stories in the soldiers’ own words, gleaned from transcripts in the Gabriel Dumont Institute. “My officer asked where I got the jug,” one Métis said, after crawling across no man’s land in the First World War. “I told him that I got it off the Germans in the frontline. He said that I had risked my life and they gave me a medal.” During the Second World War, Métis troops were among those captured when Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese on Christmas Day, 1941. As prisoners of war, they endured near-starvation. One soldier was so hungry he…