The fifth title in our provincial histories series, Mavericks is an idiosyncratic and episodic history of what is arguably Canada's most unconventional province. From mapmakers to ranchers, Stampede Wrestling to Stockwell Day, acclaimed writer Aritha van Herk brings the drama and combative beauty of this irascible province to stunning life. 
van Herk's portrait of her home province embraces all its extremes, from deadly and spectacular weather to dinosaur graveyards, and from oil gushers and geysers to barnstorming social reformers and political haymakers. Bronc-riders of boom and bust, Alberta's people are a beguiling mixture of opinionated extremists, hardy pioneers and gentle sinners. Alberta is a province that most Canadians simply don't understand, the province most Canadians love to hate. It is regarded as a land of reckless, redneck and ignorant individualists. But it is also the province where the Famous Five fought the landmark Person's Case, giving Canadian women the same status as men in the eyes of the law, a province that truly believes in free speech. Albertans tolerate in their midst people whose extreme views on any manner of subjects would make them outcasts elsewhere. And Albertans practice the creed of western neighbourliness, giving assiduously to charity and always lending a hand where help is needed. They are a tough, tender bunch, squinting into the wind of determined difference. If you're an Albertan, you'll recognize yourself and your home in this book. If you're not an Albertan, this book will be an education for you. Mavericks will open your eyes to the real Alberta, as she was and is.

Mavericks: An Incorrigible History Of Alberta

History

Van Herk, Aritha

Americas

Penguin Canada

Judith

Abandoning a disastrous love affair, Judith Pierce retreats to a Canadian farm, seeking to isolate herself, but a neighboring family offers warmth and affection and, finally, love

Literature & Fiction

Little,Brown & Co

Literary

MCCLELLAND STEWART

Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta

Penguin/Viking

No Fixed Address

Seal Books

Won the $50,000 Seal Canadian First Novel award.

McClelland and Stewart

Biographies & Memoirs

The Tent Peg

In The Tent Peg, award-winning novelist Aritha van Herk uses her unerring perception and impressive literary skill to capture the mystical mood of the Arctic and the people who are drawn to it.In this intriguing story, a young woman who disguises herself as a man to work in a uranium prospecting camp deep in the Yukon mountains. J.L. is on the run from an empty heart and is desperate for solitude. Yet solitude eludes her from the moment she hangs up her pots and pans in the cook tent, and the men in the camp begin to drift toward her, drawn by her silence. These men are drifters, romantics and outcasts - men who have come to the North in search of answers for questions they can't define.

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Books by Van Herk, Aritha