CURTIS MCMANUS
Happyland: a history of the "Dirty Thirties" in Saskatchewan, 1914-1937
​Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2011 vii+326 pp.
Synopsis: In his award-winning first book Happyland, Curtis R. McManus recalibrates the nature of Western Canadian settlement history. McManus places the devastating and historic droughts of the 1930s in their proper context by arguing that they were far from being an exceptional, one-time occurrence as is commonly believed. The drylands of the prairie West had been plagued by drought for decades prior to the settlement of the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a consequence, crop failure, bankruptcy, and starvation formed the foundation of agricultural life in the drylands for years before finally culminating in the largest land abandonment crisis in Canadian history. 
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Published in the summer of 2011, Happyland went on to win the award for non-fiction at the Saskatchewan Book Awards in 2012. Happyland was also featured at the nationally renowned Festival of Words in 2012. Happyland was noted for its primary source research and its contribution to the scholarship on Canadian settlement history.
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​Reviews

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"Destined to become a classic...insightful and well-researched."
— Juror Comments from the Saskatchewan Book Awards

"Happyland
is written with verve and confidence. McManus is deeply engaged with his subject and his enthusiasm is contagious. There is much here to inform and reward the reader."
— Professor J. Pitsula, Literary Review of Canada

"All through the book, in hidden corners of sentences and whole paragraphs in others, I bridled and bristled and furrowed my brow. I also cheered and laughed out loud."
— Ms. Merle Massie, PhD, Active History

"Lively, trenchant, and well-researched."
— Professor Coral Ann Howells, British Journal of Canadian Studies

"An intriguing and controversial argument."
— Professor R. Douglas Francis, University of Calgary

"Happyland complements David Jones’ Empire of Dust in providing a more detailed account of the impact of successive droughts on public policy."
— Professor J. William Brennan, Canadian Historical Review

"Thorough and engaging."
— Ms. Joanna Dawson, Canada’s History

"Intriguing [and] provocative."
— Mr. Nolan Brown, Great Plains Quarterly

"McManus's argument challenges conventional wisdom and deserves greater exploration."
— Professor Dawn S. Bowen, Western Historical Quarterly




Availability

Canada

hardcover and paperback​
Happyland can be found on amazon.ca
Copies can also be purchased at retailers such as Coles or McNally-Robinson

America
Happyland can be found at amazon.com

United Kingdom
Happyland can be ordered through amazon.co.uk

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  • Curtis R. McManus
  • 2021–The Age of Nihilism: a video series in four parts
  • 2018–The Age of Nihilism: an inquiry into the death of Western democracy or, the consequences of philosophy
  • - Excerpts from The Age of Nihilism
  • 2016–Clio’s Bastards or, the wrecking of history and the perversion of our historical consciousness
  • - Excerpts from Clio's Bastards
  • 2011–Happyland: a history of the ‘Dirty Thirties’ in Saskatchewan, 1914-1937
  • - Excerpts from Happyland
  • Author Bio
  • Curtis R. McManus
  • 2021–The Age of Nihilism: a video series in four parts
  • 2018–The Age of Nihilism: an inquiry into the death of Western democracy or, the consequences of philosophy
  • - Excerpts from The Age of Nihilism
  • 2016–Clio’s Bastards or, the wrecking of history and the perversion of our historical consciousness
  • - Excerpts from Clio's Bastards
  • 2011–Happyland: a history of the ‘Dirty Thirties’ in Saskatchewan, 1914-1937
  • - Excerpts from Happyland
  • Author Bio