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I think there was something wrong with my copy of Woop-up Country by Paul Sharp. It seems that the words where the same, but I had a different perspective from the reading. First of all, Is it possible that Webb changed his name and wrote about the portion of the plains he left out? Wether sharp wants to admit it or not, there is a definite common underlying in his book that environment shapes people. He may say not completely, and I would agree, but it is a major contributing factor. For example, early in the fur trade, The Hudson bay company would not build trading posts near the Blackfoot indians. By not adapting to regional needs, the Hudson Bay company inadvertently opened the market to free traders and currupt trading practices. The farmers, ranchers, and even the mounted police all adapted to the ways of the plains either by trial and error and error and more error, or by adapting to American ways.

Answer me this, would you ask a tobacco CEO the dangers of smoking, or the chief of police about his criminal mischief. Why then, does everyone seem to be accepting Sharp without contest? I tend to find a biased opinion about Canada in Sharp's depiction of the Northern Plains. The difference I see in Webb and Sharp is that Sharp is much more entertaining to read. I like many of his stories, though they would often drag on, but he had a lot of interesting facts to present. With as much contempt as I have for Sharp, it will never be any different for any historian. Therefore I would have to say this is quite possibly my favorite history book. It combined the facts of history and explained them in a quite interesting way.