British Columbia by the Road ─ Car Culture and the Making of a Modern Landscape

In British Columbia by the Road, Ben Bradley takes readers on an unprecedented journey through the history of roads, highways, and motoring in British Columbia?s Interior, a remote landscape composed of plateaus and interlocking valleys, soaring mountains and treacherous passes. Challenging the idea that the automobile offered travellers the freedom of the road and a view of unadulterated nature, Bradley shows that boosters, businessmen, conservationists, and public servants manipulated what drivers and passengers could and should view from the comfort of their vehicles. Although cars and roads promised freedom, they offered drivers a curated view of the landscape that shaped the province?s image in the eyes of residents and visitors alike.

Ben Bradley is a Grant Notley Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta.