Alberta Originals

The huge success of Brian Brennan's bestselling Building a Province: 60 Alberta Lives left readers clamouring for more. Alberta Originals is his response to the demand, featuring 60 additional significant and influential Albertans. From philanthropists to local characters, artists of oil-patch executives, Alberta Originals is filled with people who made a unique contribution to the social, economic, cultural and political foundations of Alberta. Each person was an original who brought their energy and visions to the shaping of a province with a history of embracing the unusual and entrepreneurial. Brian Brennan provides a fresh look at these province builders, highlighting little-known details from the lives of the Famous Five, "Bible Bill" Aberhart, Frank McMahon, Catharine Robb Whyte, Ernest Manning, Bruno Engler and many more. Praise for this book: "If there's any justice this side of the Pearly Gates, it resides in the eye of a fair-minded biographer. Not only does Brian Brennan give overdue credit and redress neglect, but he makes sense of the province's past by revisiting the lives of Alberta's dear departed." - Edmonton Journal