A Very Social History of Victoria
by Terry Reksten
Twenty-five years ago, when the late Terry Reksten wrote More English than the English, her intent was to write “for those who might not usually find pleasure in reading about the past.” The result is an entertaining account of British immigrants trying to create a society based on nostalgic notions of their homeland.
This completely redesigned, updated, and expanded edition brings this fascinating social history of Victoria’s early days back into print. Writer and historian Rosemary Neering has added new photos and updated the list of sixty-one historical sites. As in the original edition, More English than the English includes maps and a comprehensive cross-referenced list of sites for readers strolling the streets and pathways of the city, searching for evidence of the past—both at surviving physical locations and in the stories that unfolded there.
Terry Reksten, Victoria’s favourite historian, chronicles the feats and foibles of the men and women, many of them British immigrants, who created a special kind of society and a new city beside the Pacific. With insight and humour, Reksten opens a window on the way things used to be in a place at the far end of the Empire.
Deliberately selective and anecdotal, this is a delightful collection of stories and sagas of the people who fashioned a fort, a town, and finally, a city on the rocks and meadows of southern Vancouver Island. By focusing on the stories behind the acts and dates that are the mainstay of more formal history, Reksten strove to create a social history that portrayed the spirit of the times from the mid-nineteenth century into the 1930s.
978-1-55039-186-2 • 6 x 9 • 232 pp • 100+ photos • paper • $19.95
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