The Sodbusters

Bruce Grainger is head of the Public Services Department, Macdonald
Library, McGill University.

Originally published in 1948, this classic story of the pioneers of the
Canadian West was the first of Grant MacEwan’s nearly 50 popular
historical books. The Sodbusters looks at the lives of 37 pioneers;
although a varied lot in their geographic, ethnic, and class origins,
all were men. Despite the title, the men’s occupations were as diverse
as explorer, rancher, doctor, educator, meat packer, and farmer. Two of
the men profiled are black: John Ware, a cowboy and rancher, and Alfred
Schmitz Shadd, who besides being a medical doctor was also a farmer,
businessman, and politician. Another of the pioneers was Oxford-educated
John George “Kootenai” Brown, who for five horses “bought” his
second wife from her Cree father.

The brief biographical sketches are written with humor and verve.
MacEwan chooses to accent the positive, perhaps at the expense of some
uncomfortable facts. A case in point is the story of fellow Liberal
Party member James Duncan McGregor who, MacEwan neglects to mention,
used his links with the federal Liberal government to acquire hundreds
of thousands of acres of prairie land on favorable terms and at low
prices. If MacEwan doesn’t give us all the facts, he does provide a
very readable and interesting account of his subjects.

This new softcover edition contains a table of contents, a brief
biographical sketch of MacEwan, a picture of the author at his first
book signing of The Sodbusters in 1948, and a book cover that features
the William Kurelek painting of a farmer ploughing the prairie.