Looking Back: True Tales from Saskatchewan's Past

W.J.C. Cherwinski is a professor of history and Canadian Studies Program
supervisor at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is the co-author
of Lectures in Canadian Labour and Working-Class History.

CBC Saskatchewan aired 48 episodes based on vignettes of the wheat
province’s past. Thirty-six of them are featured here as an eclectic
testament to the fact that Saskatchewan’s people are vastly more
interesting than the landscape they occupy. Brief (most are no more than
three pages) and somewhat superficial, the vignettes range from the well
known (Regina cyclone) to the obscure (Count Imhoff); from the humorous
(Factoria) to the tragic (the Blizzard of '47); from the revolting (the
Welwyn Massacre) to the inspirational (the curling Richardsons). Yet,
the slim volume hardly scratches the surface in surveying the
fascinating people and critical incidents that Saskatchewan has
contributed in its first century. The vignettes in Looking Back should
therefore become the first of a series.