Non-Fiction: Halifax: Warden of the North by Thomas H. Raddall

In some ways, having a crisp new copy of Thomas H. Raddall’s Halifax: Warden of the North (Nimbus) in hand seems like something of a miracle. First published in 1948, Halifax: Warden of the North won the Governor Generals Award for non-fiction in that year and, in editions in the years between, it has always been a standard text and research tool on the history of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The book chronicles Halifax’s birth as a city and its evolution: right up until the time Raddall died in the early 1990s. This new edition has been updated by award-winning Halifax journalist, Stephen Kimber who adds key historical chapters to Raddall’s classic, including the G-7 economic summit, in 1995 and the sewage treatment controversy of 2009.

The resulting book is both fresh and seamless. An important part of Nova Scotia’s written history, newly updated.