Name: Ralph Friesen Book Launch ("Prosperity Ever, Depression Never": Steinbach in the 1930s)
Start: 2024-10-09T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-10-09T20:00:00-05:00
Location: McNally Robinson Booksellers

Ralph Friesen Book Launch ("Prosperity Ever, Depression Never": Steinbach in the 1930s)

Join Ralph Friesen for the launch of "Prosperity Ever, Depression Never": Steinbach in the 1930s.
https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/9780973687781/ralph-friesen/prosperity-ever-depression-never
This event will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a simultaneous YouTube stream: https://youtube.com/live/NjIr0eNVYaY
The village of Steinbach, Manitoba, defied the odds in the Depression years, actually growing and progressing during that devastating time. How did this happen?
Friesen’s book provides an explanation for this phenomenon, with a detailed chapter on the village’s “backbone”—its Main Street, where commerce was conducted and small entertainments could be found. The story moves from one end of the street to the other, using the original lots of the 1874 pioneers as a structure on which to hang various facts and anecdotes. The book draws on memoirs, the diaries of the author’s father, and articles and letters from the Steinbach Post. Photographs of the era and detailed maps are also included.
The arc of the story shows the transition of the village of Steinbach from a somewhat isolated Mennonite village toward a modern community on the Canadian prairies. At the same time it shows that Steinbach maintained a strong Mennonite identity.
Ralph Friesen was born in Steinbach in 1945, the youngest of six children. He has Masters degrees in English Literature and Marriage and Family Therapy. Friesen has published short fiction, poetry, reviews and historical articles in a variety of magazines and periodicals. He is the writer of a family history entitled Abraham S. Friesen, Steinbach Pioneer and a history of his home town entitled Between Earth & Sky: Steinbach, the First 50 Years. He has also published a biography/memoir called Dad, God, & Me. Friesen is married, with two adult children and five grandchildren, and lives with his wife Hannah in Victoria, BC.