Review of The Last Best West: Essays on the Historical Geography of the Canadian Prairies by Yossi Katz and John C. Lehr

摘要

John Lehr is well known for his longstanding interest in and intimate knowledge of Ukrainian and Mormon settlement in the Canadian West. More recently, he has teamed with Yossi Katz to examine Jewish settlement and to analyze the influence of institutional factors on settlement success. The purpose of this collection of previously-published papers is to contribute to a "full understanding" of frontier agricultural settlement through the use of a comparative approach that analyzes the role of culture and institutions (social, religious, and government) in the settlement experiences of several ethnic groups in western Canada. Chosen for detailed treatment are the groups noted above, with added chapters on the Mennonites (by John Warkentin) and the Hutterites (by Bill Laatsch). The authors also include references to the Doukhobors in the comparative chapters.