Reading the Entrails: An Alberta Ecohistory

A provocative ecohistory of Alberta from the Ice Age to the present, unafraid to criticize government, regulators, and corporations alike, Reading the Entrails is essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of Alberta’s ecological resources.

Before the fall of Imperial Rome, priests cast the guts of sacrificial animals on the temple floor, claiming to be able to divine the future from these entrails. By probing the remains of Alberta’s past sacrifices (reading the entrails), the author believes we might dimly see an apparition of Alberta’s future.

This controversial book vividly portrays the history of land and life in Alberta from the Ice Ages to the present. Making no apologies for his criticism of government, regulators, and large corporations, Conrad aims to strike a discussion at all levels by presenting his arguments intensely. For those interested in natural history, the environment, and the future of Alberta’s ecological resources, this provocative book is essential reading.

Norman C. Conrad’s involvement in advocacy, law, primary industry, and wilderness have provided him, a third-generation Albertan, with a strong sense of the winners and losers in Alberta’s progress and development.

Acknowledgements
Prologue

Chapter 1. Icy Beginnings

Chapter 2. First Peoples

Chapter 3. Distant Rumblings

Chapter 4. Bison Bounty

Chapter 5. Hudson’s Bay Company

Chapter 6. Taking New Canaan

Chapter 7. Trojan, Iron, War, and Other Horses

Chapter 8. Whiteout

Chapter 9. Sodbusting

Chapter 10. Oil Moil

Chapter 11. Bushwhacking

Chapter 12. White Man’s Cares

Chapter 13. Strips, Laminates, and Biomes

Chapter 14. Roadkills on the Highway to Progress

Chapter 15. The Salvation Band

Chapter 16. Epilogue

Endnotes
Index