Alberta Premiers of the Twentieth Century

Alberta Premiers of the Twentieth Century. Edited by Bradford J. Rennte. Regina, SK: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 2004. xiii + 298 pp. Photographs, notes, index. $24.95 paper.

The Province of Alberta has had an even dozen premiers in the century since its creation in 1905. The body of historical and biographical writing on the political history of the province is uneven, to put it mildly. Only five of the province's political leaders have been the subject of biographies. Curiously, the current premier, Ralph Klein, has the most (three), while Ernest Manning, arguably the most important Alberta political figure of the century, has none. Five premiers have not so much as an article or chapter published on them. This collection thus...