This book will appeal to anyone interested in the lives of Canadian artists, the Great Depression, BC history, art history, labour history, or narratives of disaffected youth.
Preface
Principal Persons
Introduction
2231 Blenheim St., Vancouver
Camp 506, Big Bend Road, Near Revelstoke
Camp 376, Tappen
Camp 378, Notch Hill
2231 Blenheim St., Vancouver
Afterwards …
Appendix; Further Reading; Index
Peter Neary is a historian and the editor and author of several books, including White Tie and Decorations: Sir John and Lady Hope Simpson in Newfoundland, 1934–1936 and On to Civvy Street: Canada’s Rehabilitation Program for Veterans of the Second World War. He is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Western Ontario.
[Collier] was a skilled letter writer and his lively narrative is free of pretension. He attempted to record the toughness of the life in a way that was authentic, while no doubt taking off a few rough edges and embellishing anecdotes, as all writers do … This book is an easy read and will appeal to general readers, as well as those interested in the 1930s life or Canadian art. This fascinating slice of social history forms a Canadian counterpart to the volume of Pollock family letters.
~Alexander Adams, art critic, alexanderadamsart
Peter Neary has done a real service by bringing Alan Collier’s letters to a wide public audience. Collier’s views of the politics of the camps, while contentious, provide a useful comparison to the more familiar leftist reading of the era. More importantly, his letters, along with the paintings and photographs that Neary has collected, provide an intimate and detailed glimpse, a view from the inside, of the relief camp system, a short-lived but embryonic experiment in social control during a time of economic crisis.
~Daniel Francis, The Ormsby Review
