University of British Columbia Press
Welcome to Resisterville
American Dissidents in British Columbia
9780774827331
Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
Welcome to Resisterville
American Dissidents in British Columbia
Between 1965 and 1975, thousands of American migrants traded their established lives for a new beginning in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. Some were non-violent resisters who opposed the war in Vietnam. But a larger group was inspired by the ideals of the 1960s counterculture and, hoping to flee the restrictive demands of their parents’ world, they set out to build a peaceful, egalitarian society in the Canadian wilderness. Even today, their success is evident, as these impassioned ideals still define community life. Welcome to Resisterville is both a look at an untold chapter in Canadian history and a compelling story of enduring idealism.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Prologue
1 Welcome to Resisterville
2 Identity and the American Migration
3 Taking Root: Brokering Friends and Allies in the West Kootenay Counterculture, 1965-73
4 Acting Together and Resisting Together: Building a Countercultural Haven, 1968-79
5 “We Were Even Stranger than Other Strangers”: Conflict, Contestation, and Boundary Negotiation in the Formation of the West Kootenay Counterculture, 1968-79
6 The Birth of Environmental Consciousness and the Rise of the Environmental Critique, 1973-91
7 Leadership, Legacy, and Reconciliation
Conclusion: Forging a Long Tradition
Appendix
Notes
References
Index