Boozy and boisterous. The Georges – the communities of South Fort George and Fort George that ultimately became Prince George – acquired a seedy reputation for a century, at times branded the dubious title of Canada’s “most dangerous city.” Is Prince George really such a bad lad?

The Notorious Georges explores how the pursuit of respectability collided with caricatures of a riotous settlement frontier in its early years. Anxious about being marginalized by the provincial government and venture capitalists, municipal leaders blamed Indigenous and mixed-heritage people, non-preferred immigrants, and transient labourers for local crime. Jonathan Swainger combs through police and legal records, government publications, and media commentary to demonstrate that the disorder was not so different from the rest of the province – and “respectable” white residents were often to blame.

This lively account tells us about more than a particular community’s identity. It also sheds light on small-town disaffection in modern Canada.

Jonathan Swainger is Associate Professor of History at the University of Northern British Columbia and co-editor, with Constance Backhouse, of People and Place: Historical Influences on Legal Culture, also published by UBC Press.

Jonathan Swainger's profile page

• Short-listed, Basil Stuart-Stubbs Book Prize
• Commended, Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing, BC Historical Federation
• Short-listed, W. Wesley Pue Book Prize, Canadian Law and Society Association/Association canadienne droit et société

"Swainger writes for a broad audience, seeking readers not just in academia, but also those generally interested in local, BC, crime, or policing history."

British Columbia History.

"It’s quite a story and quite a complicated one. Dr. Swainger has done a masterful job organizing a mountain of material into a coherent and very interesting saga"

The BC Review