The Way We Were
BC's Amazing Journey to the Millennium
- Publisher
- Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd.
- Initial publish date
- Nov 2000
- Category
- General, Pictorials
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781550172300
- Publish Date
- Nov 2000
- List Price
- $24.95
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Description
The heart of this fresh and eclectic look at BC's history is an enormously popular 11-part series that ran in the Vancouver Province newspaper late in 1999. Starting with the years before the Europeans arrived, the book chronicles the life and times of BC through the decades, with plenty of photographs from public and private archives in large and small BC centres, and from the family collections of Province readers, to give astonishing and never-before-seen testimony to the changing times.
Here is the chronicle of the triumphs, disasters and curious events that make BC unique: the coming of the camels-the strangest pack animals ever used to work BC's goldfields, the amazing giant-tree hoax and the raging infernos that reduced early cities such as New Westminster, Vancouver and Barkerville to smoking ruins. Readers can revisit the building of the Lions Gate Bridge in 1938; the collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge in 1958, when 18 ironworkers were killed; the war years, when BC children learned how to wear gas masks and Japanese Canadians were sent to internment camps; the mega-projects from the dam-building of the 1950s to the phenomenal success of Expo 86 - all with international context. From Fort St. John to Cranbrook, Victoria's Chinatown to Vancouver's West End, B.C. has had an amazing journey to the new millennium, growing in a world that witnessed the sinking of the Titanic, two devastating world wars, and the spectacle of human beings walking on the moon.
Accompanying the photos is a lively and engaging commentary, which offers a run-down of the noteworthy events for each decade and a "millennium notebook" timeline for each year. Sidebars feature everything from pop-culture icons like Barbie to obituaries of important leaders and personalities to notables in films and books. The years' most entertaining and clever letters to the editors are compiled at the end of each decade, offering an often hilarious firsthand account of the events and people that mark B.C.'s journey to the new millennium.
Explore the way we were in this fresh approach to B.C. history, brimming with unbelievable archival photos, never-before-seen images and unique snapshots from across the pacific province. The perfect keepsake for visitors, newcomers, lifelong British Columbians and history buffs of all description.
About the author
The heart of The Way We Were: BC's Amazing Journey to the Millennium is an enormously popular 11-part series that ran in the Vancouver Province newspaper late in 1999.
Excerpt: The Way We Were: BC's Amazing Journey to the Millennium (by (author) The Vancouver Province)
A Burst of Growth
As calendars click over to 1900, B.C., Canada and the world enter an era of enormous change. The first decade sees breakthroughs such as the Wright Brothers' first manned flight, Marconi's first trans-Atlantic wireless signal and Einstein's first steps in atomic theory.
In B.C., it is a time of unprecedented growth, with Vancouver rising from the ashes of the 1886 fire and blossoming to more than 25,000 people by 1900.
The inner mind is also under the public microscope as psychologist Sigmund Freud tells us that dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious" in his 1900 book The Interpretation of Dreams.
As Canada's population reaches 5,371,315 in 1901, in Trenton, N.J., the Eastman Kodak Co. incorporates to produce Kodak cameras and photographic supplies. The Kodak Brownie sells for $1.
What's believed to be Canada's first permanent cinema, the Edison Electric Theatre, opens in Vancouver in 1902.
The first sign of a labour movement that would become a hallmark of the B.C. workplace is seen among fishermen sailing from ports along the Fraser River and in the coal mines on Vancouver Island.
The Tories, led by Richard McBride, win the 1903 B.C. election. His enemies dub the 33-year-old 'Glad-Hand Dick' but his affable manner wins him friends at home and in Ottawa.
McBride faces an early test, just 17 days into his term, with the Alaska Panhandle boundary dispute. Indignation runs high in B.C. when the British representative on an international tribunal sides with the Americans over inlets Canada is claiming.
McBride condemns the decision, which later is credited with turning many B.C. residents from thinking of themselves as British to being full-fledged Canadians.
The issue of women's rights - particularly the right to vote - gains a high profile around the world. In 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women's Social and Political Union in London. She campaigns under the slogan Votes for Women and she and her followers chain themselves to railings as part of their campaign.
Meanwhile, Madame Marie Curie discovers radiation and becomes the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
In Toronto, in 1907, Canada Dry ginger ale is patented by chemist and pharmacist John J. McLaughlin.
And in 1909, Canadian Tommy Ryan invents five-pin bowling, which now claims to be "Canada's largest participant sport."
-written by Damian Inwood