UNBC history professor Jonathan Swainger's new book, The Notorious Georges: Crime and Community Identity in Northern British Columbia, looks at how South Fort George, Fort George and Prince George got their bad reputations for crime.
Swainger combed through police and legal records, government publications, and media commentary to demonstrate that the reputation was not only exaggerated but also unfair. His research showed that not only was the community’s rough and tumble reputation not the work of bad lads who had spent too much time in the Northern Hotel bar, but the evidence suggests that this notoriety casts light on a longer and deeper legacy of a region that feels ignored, misunderstood, and dismissed by decision-makers elsewhere in the province and nation.
Swainger joined UNBC in August 1992 and has lived and taught in Terrace, Fort St. John and Prince George.
His research centres on legal and crime history, in which he has published numerous articles on topics including capital punishment, the politics of judicial appointments, free speech during the First World War, crime and community identity, and teen culture in northern B.C. during the 1950s.
One of his previous books is Aspiration: A History of the University of Northern British Columbia to 2015. It was published in 2016 and won the 2017 Jeanne Clarke Award for Publication, an award that recognizes works documenting local history.
His new book is available at http://www.ubcpress.ca/the-notorious-georges.
