Feasting on Misfortune : Journeys of the Human Spirit in Alberta's Past

The fledgling province of Alberta was neck-deep in trouble. The settlement of the Peace River country reached dangerously too far, the southeastern dry belt disintegrated in drought, colliers agonized over life and limb, and men of the cloth were stretched to the breaking point. The themes of adversity and victories of the spirit draw together the stories of ordinary people in early Alberta. Shortly After Its Birth In 1905, The Province Of Alberta Was Already Neck-deep In Trouble. The Settlement Of The Peace River Country Reached Dangerously Too Far. The Southeastern Dry Belt Disintegrated In Drought. Irrigation Projects Teetered In Crisis. Coal Miners Agonized Over Their Lives And Their Livings. And Clergymen Serving Hundreds Of New Communities And Tenuous Outposts Were Stretched To The Breaking Point. Against This Background Of Confrontation, Constraint And Adversity, Albertans Searched For Human Fulfillment In Their Personal Lives. David C. Jones Follows The Sagas Of A Heretic, An Artist, Two Paladins Of The People, A Coal Boss And His Enemies, A Spy, A Priest, A Cat, And A Sage. Through His Eyes We See What The Human Spirit Does With Misfortune: The Spirit Feeds On Trouble Until It Grows Or Sickens.--jacket. The Peace. 1. Burnsites -- 2. The Apostle -- 3. The Disorder -- The Desert. 4. Birth Of A Ghost Town And Despair -- 5. A Woman For All Seasons -- 6. Water -- 7. In The Toils Of A Huge Octopus -- 8. Bloody Bolivia! -- 9. Hell And The Sage -- 10. The Bargain -- 11. The Legacy -- The Colliers. 12. Unconscious Of Their Nobility -- 13. The Coal Spy -- 14. The Brothers' War -- The Cat. 15. The Cat's Antidote -- The Saint. 16. Father Louis -- 17. A Church Rat -- 18. The Cross Bearing -- The Feast. Epilog. David C. Jones. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "Shortly after its birth in 1905, the province of Alberta was already neck-deep in trouble." "The settlement of the Peace River country reached dangerously too far. The southeastern dry belt disintegrated in drought. Irrigation projects teetered in crisis. Coal miners agonized over their lives and their livings. And clergymen serving hundreds of new communities and tenuous outposts were stretched to the breaking point.". "Against this background of confrontation, constraint and adversity, Albertans searched for human fulfillment in their personal lives." "David C. Jones follows the sagas of a heretic, an artist, two paladins of the people, a coal boss and his enemies, a spy, a priest, a cat, and a sage. Through his eyes we see what the human spirit does with misfortune: the spirit feeds on trouble until it grows or sickens."--BOOK JACKET.