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Glaciers Abound in Lynn Martel s new book, Stories of Ice
Sarah Boon
The history of western Canada is a history of glaciers and mountains. Lynn Martel s latest book,
Stories of Ice, is a comprehensive look at how these features have shaped the ways people have traveled through and populated the land. Martel shows that we still have much to learn about the now-disappearing bodies of ice from the community of adventurers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and artists who have explored them.
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Martel is at her best when telling stories about people interacting with glaciers. The book begins with the pre-colonial history of western Canadian glaciers and describes how Assiniboine, Blackfoot, and the Ktunaxa tribes travelled east over the glaciated passes of the Continental Divide to hunt bison on the plains. Martel also mentions Julie Cruikshank s groundbreaking book,