River Road: Essays on Manitoba and Prairie History

William A. Waiser is a professor of history at the University of
Saskatchewan, and the author of Saskatchewan’s Playground: A History
of Prince Albert National Park and Park Prisoners: The Untold Story of
Western Canada’s National Parks, 1915–1946.

River Road is a collection of engaging essays by one of western
Canada’s foremost historians, Gerald Friesen. Many are original or
slightly revised versions of previously published articles, while a few
are conference presentations; all but one were prepared after the
publication of Friesen’s award-winning monograph, The Canadian
Prairies: A History (1984).

Collectively, the essays demonstrate and promote several related
themes: the vitality of good local history and its importance to a sense
of place and identity; the acute sense of region, both within the West
and among the three prairie provinces; the interplay between Manitoba
and Ottawa (the region and the nation) in several controversial areas;
the parallels between the Prairies and similar environments elsewhere;
and the artificial barriers between popular and academic writing.

Friesen delves into these various issues with authority and clarity,
drawing upon his historical skills and knowledge to provide informed, at
times sensitive, assessments of contemporary questions (such as the
restoration of French minority rights in Manitoba or the frustration and
disillusionment of Native peoples with the modern justice system). In
the process, he confirms that Prairie history is not static, and that
accepted versions of past events can take on new meaning or acquire a
more nuanced understanding if viewed through the lens of race, class,
and/or gender. One hopes that he will next tackle a revised version of
The Canadian Prairies.