Years ago I talked with Alex Sinclair of the folky trio Tamarack (website here) about how they toured the country endlessly, performing but also creating songs rooted in local culture and history. Sinclair said wherever they went they made a point of finding the locally-minded book vendor, for there was always someone with a trove of local history, lore, memoir and commemoration for sale. Whenever I hear about how Canadians don't care about their history sufficiently, I remember that.
That theme pretty much drives my column in the April-May Beaver, now reaching newsstands partout. My old friend Robert Morgan has been doing and creating the history of Cape Breton Island for decades, and the publication of his new history Rise Again made my opportunity not only to celebrate him but to consider a variety of people around the country who similarly make local history bloom. (That's him among his roses in Sydney, natch.)
Beaver info is here, but the column's not on their website. Go buy one. Better, subscribe.
