Becoming Vancouver: History of a City

A lot has changed since the last A-to-Z history of Vancouver appeared several decades ago--award-winning historian Daniel Francis captures all of that change and more in this new era-by-era narrative of Canada's Pacific Gateway city. Becoming Vancouver follows the evolution of the city: from early habitation by the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations; to the area's settlement as a mill town; to the "Open City" years of flourishing speakeasies and brothels during the 1920s; to the years of poverty and protest during the 1930s followed by the long wartime and postwar boom to the city's current status as real-estate investment choice of the global super-rich. Tracing decades of transformation, Becoming Vancouver examines the events and personalities that have defined the city's geography, economy and politics. Francis enlivens his text with rich characterizations of the people who shaped Vancouver: determined Chief Joe Capilano, who in 1906 took a delegation to England to appeal directly to King Edward VII for better treatment of Indigenous peoples; brilliant and successful Won Alexander Cumyow, the first recorded person of Chinese descent born in Canada; tireless activist Helena Gutteridge, Vancouver's first woman councillor--just to mention a few.

Vancouver has been called a city without a history, partly because of its youth but also because of the way it seems to change so quickly. Historic business blocks here today are replaced by gleaming new glass and steel high-rises tomorrow. Newcomers to the city, arriving by the thousands every year, find few physical reminders of what was before, making a work like Becoming Vancouver so essential. This brisk, engaging narrative makes a compelling case for why local history matters more today than ever.