Abee to Zama City, How Alberta’s Cities, Towns, and Villages Got Their Names

Abee to Zama City is a well-researched reference guide to the place names of cities, towns, villages, and hamlets in Alberta. As Sanders notes in the introduction, “The naming of Alberta […] has largely, to date, been a settler-colonial process,” making this a useful resource in discussing the history of displacement of Indigenous peoples and cultures for colonial settlement and resource extraction. In social studies classes, the book could be used to prompt critical reflection on the motivations and reasons behind place-naming—such as the role played by railway companies, the North-West Mounted Police, and land surveyors. Because many place names are translations of Indigenous language terms, this book would also complement discussions around language and word origins.