New book offers aerial view of PEI history

Dr. Joshua MacFadyen, Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities, will launch a new book that offers an aerial view of PEI’s changing landscapes on November 29, 2023, at 7:30 pm, in the Faculty Lounge (Room 201), SDU Main Building, University of Prince Edward Island. 

Published by Island Studies Press, Time Flies: A History of Prince Edward Island from the Air offers an unprecedented view of one island province’s journey into modernity through a unique blend of aerial photography and historical synthesis. The book presents images of iconic landscapes on Prince Edward Island, and traces how those communities and natural ecosystems have changed over 85 years (1935–2020).  

Each site history illustrates and reflects on the nature of modern land use and land cover change in one of four chapters organized around primary resource economies, rural communities, urban development, and islands and coastal change. Time Flies offers a visually rich discussion of one island as the world and offers lessons that can be learned from the social and ecological transformation of PEI. 

In addition to holding his Canada Research Chair, MacFadyen is an associate professor in the Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture program at University of Prince Edward Island. His previous books include Flax Americana: A History of the Fibre and Oil That Covered a Continent and Time and a Place: An Environmental History of Prince Edward Island. 

This book was published with the support of a Scholarly Book Award from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and a SSHRC Exchange Publication Award from the Office of the Vice-President Academic and Research at UPEI.  

Books will be available for purchase and signing at the launch. The event is free and open to the public. For more information about the book or the launch, please contact Bren Simmers at 902-566-0386 or ispstaff@upei.ca.