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A timely collection of provocative, personal, and thoughtful essays for an Alberta in transition.
About the author
Kevin Van Tighem, a former superintendent of Banff National Park, has written more than 200 articles, stories, and essays on conservation and wildlife that have garnered him many awards, including Western Magazine Awards, Outdoor Writers of Canada book and magazine awards, and the Journey Award for Fiction. He is the author of
Bears Without Fear,
The Homeward Wolf,
Heart Waters: Sources of the Bow River, and
Our Place: Changing the Nature of Alberta. He lives with his wife, Gail, in High River, Alberta.
Summary
This selection of works by naturalist, hunter, conservation activist, and outdoors journalist Kevin Van Tighem will both inspire and provoke, because it offers an unflinching challenge to cherished myths and conventional wisdom in a troubled province beset with profound questions about its future. Even at their most provocative, however, these writings remind us of what is best about the Alberta spirit, and offer the possibility of a more sustaining relationship with our place and with one another.
The rich imagery in these writings is drawn from the author’s intimate relationship with the streams, forests, grasslands, and mountains of the Canadian West. There may be no sacred cows in Van Tighem’s prose, but even the most unblinkingly critical of his writings resonate with a love of place and an abiding respect for the people whose lives he shares. He reminds us that Alberta’s stories were always meant to be about much more than oil. At a time when social, economic, and environmental changes confront and confound what is still one of Canada’s greatest provinces, we need better ways of remembering our past, knowing our present, and imagining our future. That’s what this inspiring body of work offers — just in time for tomorrow.
