Description:
A brisk chronicle of Vancouver, BC, from early days to its emergence as a global metropolis, refracted through the events, characters and communities that have shaped the city.
Brief description:
Daniel Francis has written over thirty books, primarily about Canadian and BC history. He has received an Award of Merit from the Vancouver Historical Society for significant contributions to the history of Vancouver and British Columbia, as well as the prestigious Pierre Berton Award. He lives in North Vancouver, BC.
Review Quotes:
"Daniel Francis has written the first complete, chronological history of Vancouver in a half-century, bringing the story up to date with engaging accounts of Indigenous life, politics, entertainment and crime that show the city in all its flawed glory." - Michael Kluckner, author of Vanishing Vancouver, Toshiko, and Here & Gone
"In the long human narrative of the place, the rise of what we now call Vancouver, itself now part of an even vaster emerging megalopolis that arcs around the Georgia Basin, is a mere blink. Before it was conceived in frenzy of greed, colonial imperialism, escapist dreams, utopian idealism, despair, grief and dashed hopes, it had been home to powerful First Nations for longer, arguably, than the new British colonists had occupied their own homeland. Becoming Vancouver, a new history of the origins of Canada's third largest city, frames its raucous, sometimes unpleasant, occasionally tragic or triumphant, always dramatic story within the context of that larger, often understated past. It's just one of the insights that brings a different take to this lyrical, accessible, exciting and, above all, thoroughly enjoyable history of what's become the brash, supercharged engine of British Columbia. Daniel Francis is one of the province's literary treasures. This remarkable book is affirmation of his deserving place on the bookshelf of anyone who cares to know where they come from and why." - Stephen Hume
"Finally! The definitive history of Vancouver. Daniel Francis's Becoming Vancouver is a necessary and long over-due book and a must have for any Vancouverite who truly wants to understand their city." - Eve Lazarus, author of Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City's Hidden History
"Francis shows Vancouver as a city of conflict - not between classes or neighbourhoods but between ideals and values, the things that run to the core of a community. If it has been difficult to find the soul of Vancouver it is because it is one that is torn and uncomfortable with itself. Vancouver emerges from these pages as a more complex place populated by characters who struggle to do the right thing." - John Belshaw