This book explores a relatively small but interesting and unusual region of Alberta between the North Saskatchewan and the Battle Rivers. The Beaver Hills arose where mountain glaciers from the west met continental ice-sheets from the east to create a complex and diverse landscape. MacDonald relates how climate, water levels, wildlife, vegetation, and fire have shaped the possibilities and provided the challenges to the people who have called the region home.

Graham MacDonald has worked as a historian, teacher, librarian, and park planner. He is the author of A Good Solid Comfortable Establishment: An Illustrated History of Lower Fort Garry, and Where the Mountains Meet the Prairies: A History of Waterton Country (University of Calgary Press).

Graham A. MacDonald's profile page

"This book is well written and incorporates a variety of pictures, graphs, and maps, which add a great deal to the narrative. MacDonald’s strength is his ability to create an accessible narrative that flows easily from section to section and story to story. ... MacDonald's The Beaver Hills Country: A History of Land and Life will be of interest to anyone who has ever spent any time in the region, and to those who would like to better understand the complex interactions between humans and the natural world along Canada's prairie parkland."

Peter Fortna