The Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation congratulates Professor, PearlAnn Reichwein as a finalist in the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival Competition. Today's recognition places her insightful book, Climber's Paradise: Making Canada's Mountain Parks, 1906-1974, among top contenders in the Mountain and Wilderness Literature, Non-Fiction category.
Reichwein says, "I'm honoured to be a finalist among so many wonderful writers and books at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival this year. It's a great gathering and speaks to global interest in mountains and conservation near and far."
In Climber's Paradise, Reichwein looks at the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) as a viewfinder on Canada's changing outlook on recreation, land use and conservation, particularly in iconic western mountain parks and farther north. Canadian mountaineers stand out as intergenerational advocates of conservation and public space with deep roots amid changing times.
Reichwein also brings to Canadian mountaineering literature her own voice, combining creative non-fiction with lyrical nature writing. The book shares her personal stories of mountaineering, with an idyllic ascent up the Kiwa Glacier and Mount Wilfrid Laurier. She presents a compelling case for understanding wild places and human history as parts of a whole.
Years of archival research enhanced by many images make Climber's Paradise a book of invaluable scholarship as well as a great read.
PearlAnn Reichwein is giving a public talk and slideshow at the Whyte Museum of Canadian Rockies on October 2 at 7 pm. The Edmonton launch and panel discussion is on October 8 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She is also attending the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival; there will be a book signing at the Banff Centre on November 8 between 2 and 4 pm.
Advance Praise
"At a time when civil society and environmental organizations are being vilified in the media as 'special interest groups,' it is important to understand the crucial roles played by the Alpine Club of Canada not only in the creation of our magnificent mountain parks but in shaping the Canadian identity."
John Bennett, Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada
"Wilderness. Symbol of nationhood. Playground. Sanctuary. Revenue source. Over the last century Canada's mountain parks have been imagined and reimagined through a spectrum of meanings and contending desires. PearlAnn Reichwein's history of the Alpine Club of Canada explores these incarnations and tells the fascinating stories of the people who cared fiercely for the mountains and struggled over their use and value. Just as importantly, Reichwein traces out the less visible tracks of class, race, and gender that weave through the grand narratives of adventure and conquest. This is vital reading for anyone who cares about our vanishing wild heritage."
Thomas Wharton, award-winning author of Icefields
"This is a remarkable story. It's about how a small group of urban, middle-class, Anglo Canadians, working through the Alpine Club of Canada, sought to assert their narratives of alpinism, the environment, nation, and interpersonal relations on Canada's western Canadian mountain parks, and the conditions they faced, the institutions they created, the political victories they achieved, and the struggles and setbacks they encountered.
Professor Reichwein tells it brilliantly, bringing both a climbers' love of the mountains and a social historian's critical distance and research to her subject. Her analysis is illuminated with mini-biographies of the key players, grounded in their speeches and personal correspondence resourcefully dug out of archival collections, and an extensive collection of photographs.
It's an important contribution to the history of Canadian sport and recreation and a telling case study of volunteering, but anyone who has ever holidayed or even contemplated a hike in a mountain national park would enjoy and benefit from this book."
Bruce Kidd, University of Toronto historian and Olympian