Edmonton in our own words

I like this book. I really do. I think it’s the best book we have read so far in the course. I like its structure and the fact that includes so many different voices. How much of the stories are true or not we don’t know, but the author at least gives a pretty decent impression of giving voice to a variety of people and presenting us with various points of views. We also get different accounts of how historic events were preserved: the author offer his reader diary entries, letters, accounts of eye-witnesses, recorded oral history, stories of descendants...etc.

I like how the book his chronologically organized and how each chapter ends with the personal stories. The author tries to include as many different voices as possible: telling us stories of everyday life, many immigrant experiences and trouble of the women during the wars. And those stories that can’t be told, because they were not recorded, are also acknowledged by the author.

It gives the most all-around picture of Edmonton that I have seen (not that I have read much about Edmonton outside this course, of course) and in my opinion it’s fitting an Edmonton centennial.