The first decade and a half of the twentieth century was mostly a<br>time of unprecedented prosperity and growth in British Columbia.<br>Although its colonial history was still etched in the public psyche, BC<br>was coming into its own as a province of Canada and starting to realize<br>the untapped economic potential of its natural resources. Born just<br>months before British Columbia ceased to be a British colony, Richard<br>McBride juggled his imperial, national, and provincial identities while<br>developing one of the most important political careers the province has<br>ever seen.<br><br>McBride built a reputation as a charismatic and optimistic leader who<br>was dedicated to a vision of a modern, industrialized, wealthy<br>province. Truly a product of his time, McBride firmly opposed Asian<br>immigration and promoted industrial development at the expense of First<br>Nations interests. But he also had great forward vision: he introduced<br>party lines to stabilize the BC legislature; he vigorously supported<br>provincial causes in Ottawa; and, above all, he encouraged the building<br>of railways in many regions of the province. <i>Boundless<br>Optimism</i> puts McBride's political career into historical<br>context, chronicling his passions, his many accomplishments, the<br>downsides of his optimism, and his role in making British Columbia the<br>province it is today.<b>Patricia E. Roy</b>, professor emerita of history at the<br>University of Victoria, is the author of many books on the history of<br>British Columbia, including <i>The Truimph of Citizenship: The<br>Japanese and Chinese in Canada, 1941-67; The Oriental Question:<br>Consolidating a White Man's Province, 1914-41;</i> and <i>A White<br>Man's Province: British Columbia Politicians and Chinese and<br>Japanese Immigrants, 1858-1914.</i>